Hesitate
by Scabior's-Horcrux
Summary: It's been five years since the downfall of Lord Voldemort, and Hermione has had Scabior's child. Scabior is released from Azkaban. Soon afterwards their child is kidnapped. Can they get their kid back, or will they lose everything? Full summary inside.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, or locations in this. All rights belong to the wonderful J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros. etc. **

**Please read and review! It's much appreciated.**

Full Summary: It's been five years since the downfall of Voldemort, and Hermione has had Scabior's child. Scabior is released from Azkaban for giving the Wizengamot information on many wanted followers of the fallen Dark Lord that are still out there. Once word gets leaked on who revealed their hiding place, someone wants to take revenge on Scabior by taking his child. Now both Hermione and Scabior have to try to get their child back together, will what they had together over five years ago be reborn as they try to get their child back? Or will they lose everything? **  
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><p><strong>May 4<strong>**th****, 1998**

It had already been two days. Two very long days since Voldemort was finally defeated by the boy-who-lived, Harry Potter. All over many wizards and witches celebrated in their victory and freedom as aurors from the Ministry of Magic began to round up surviving Death Eaters and other supporters for the deceased dark wizard. When he was defeated, several supporters had disapparated from the school's ground immediately, knowing that their chance at completing their goals were over. Since that day, it seemed that about two dozen different reporters from the Dailey Prophet were constantly trying to get interviews or any comments from Harry Potter or any of his close friends, desperate to be able to print new and bright things of a new age.

You couldn't hide from them for long though, Kingsley Shackle bolt - the newly appointed Minister of Magic had informed Harry and it was best the he and some of the people the Dailey Prophet requested interviews from would just make a few comments in the very least.

So there they were. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Luna, Neville, and Ginny. All of them sat in a room filled with chairs and a couple of tables that held water and snacks for them. They were all going to be called out soon to be asked questions for cover stories in the magical newspaper.

"A bunch of nosey gits they are." Ginny muttered annoyingly. She didn't like all of the attention, unlike her older brother who kept checking himself in the mirror that hung on the wall, asking whoever was near how he should wear his hair.

"I hear Rita Skeeter is going to be out there." Luna spoke softly as she seemed to be in her own little world as usual. "Terrific." Ginny replied sarcastically.

Hermione on the other hand remained neutral, or was at least trying to be as she kept picking at the ends of her coat with her fingers. Her palms were sweaty and she felt a little nauseas. It wasn't because she was nervous, because she was used to this kind of attention. You had to get used to it being one of the best friends of Harry Potter. She remembered the attention she had especially during her fourth year at Hogwarts when her and Viktor Krum were an "item" according to everyone else, no matter how many times she had tried to say that they were just friends. The sense of nausea had become an almost every day thing for several weeks now and every passing moment she seemed to have been feeling more of the urge to throw up her breakfast.

"Are you alright, Hermione?" She felt a hand squeeze her shoulder comforting and she looked to see Neville was looking down at her worriedly, she could the large gash that had on his forehead the other night was healing very well, despite how he refused treatment for most of his injuries. "Yeah…" Hermione spoke rather lightly, she could feel something begin to rise in her throat "I'm perfectly fi-." She couldn't take it anymore, she ran over to the nearest wastebasket and the few donuts she had for breakfast was at the bottom of the wastebasket below her.

"Hermione!" Her name was called by so many different voices she didn't pay attention who exactly said it. But she felt a few hands on her back and a hand pull her hair back as she continued to vomit. This went on for a little bit longer until she felt the nausea fade and then was handed a glass of water as she stood up. Harry and Ron grabbed her by her arms and stirred her to sit into a chair.

"Are you sick?" Ron asked.

"I don't think you should go out there if you are." Harry added, crouching besides her.

Hermione opened her mouth to say something until she was interrupted. "How long have you been getting sick Hermione?" The soft voice from Luna said. Hermione looked over and could see Luna with a questioning gaze on her face as she waited for an answer. "A…few weeks." she answered, assuming that she must've had a bad bug that she couldn't shake.

Luna hummed merrily as she grabbed her own glass of water and walked to where Hermione was, snatching off a single thread of her hair. Hermione let out a small squeak of shock as Harry questioned Luna about her antics. But the blonde only ignored him as she walked to a table and dropped the brown colored hair into the glass, then tapping her wand against the rim, mumbling a few words before the water turned a bright purple color.

Luna turned back to Hermione and smiled, "Congratulations Hermione."

Hermione looked at the blonde confusingly, "What do you mean?"

"You're pregnant. I used a charm to determine if what I thought was correct. If the water doesn't make any changes then you're not pregnant, but if it turns purple then you're carrying a child in your belly." Hermione's eyes widened as her mouth gaped open. Everyone else in the room seemed to have had the same reaction besides Luna who was smiling at the news.

"Ron?" Ginny looked at her brother in question, assuming he of all people Hermione who lose her virginity too. "It wasn't me!" Ron blushed, knowing exactly what the younger Weasley was thinking. "Well then…who was it?" Neville whispered in thought. All of the eyes in the room were staring at Hermione in question.

She felt like she was going to lose it, but bit her lip to stop herself. Hermione knew who it was, and so did Harry as soon as he finally figured it out. "No." Harry said, shaking his head. "Not him! That's what he did to you!" Harry growled.

"What?" Ron asked.

"You don't remember what happened when we got caught by those snatchers? The one that grabbed Hermione?" Harry turned to his friend, giving him a look as if he couldn't believe how thick he truly was. Then Ron made a face when he put the pieces together in his mind finally.

"What? What happened?" Ginny asked, brows furrowed.

Hermione couldn't hold in her tears anymore as she finally broke down and she stopped Harry from speaking any further. She would say it herself, since she was the only one really present when it happened. "W-When we were captured in the forest by a gang of snatchers, there was a man who was their leader. He grabbed me and took me into the woods and - " she choked on a sob, but didn't continue. She knew that she didn't need too. Soon she felt some hands on her tighten and pat her gently.

"You don't have to keep it you know…you can get rid of it." Ron stated. He was answered by a slap from Hermione as she glared at him. "I will not punish my unborn child for something it's father did!" At that, she got up from the chair and stormed into the bathroom, locking the door behind her.

Hermione looked at herself in the mirror and she rubbed on her stomach. If she pulled away her coat she could see her belly that had grown. It wasn't that big that anyone would notice as long as she kept on her coat around her friends. She wasn't stupid, and she very much had her suspicions over the last few weeks but didn't pay no attention when much more important things were going on. But she knew for certain now thanks to Luna, and so did the rest of her most closest friends. She was still made for suggesting that she didn't keep her child. No, she would keep it and raise it. Knowing full well she'd be able to care for it.

That's when Hermione could no longer look at herself in the mirror. She was disgusted with herself for telling her friends what had happened between her and that snatcher. When what she told them really, wasn't the truth at all.

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><p><strong>AN: Here's the prologue for Hesitate! I'm very excited to be writing this fic. I've been plotting and making notes for the last month and a half over this one. I have the first six chapters written out as rough drafts, I just have to type them out now. I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. Chapter 1 will be up shortly, and I'm currently working on Chapter 2 as we speak. Those who are also reading my work-in-progress fic, Maelstrom, don't worry; I'll still be updating that fic as well.**

**Have a wonderful day!  
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	2. Chapter 1

_Five years later. _

It was in the middle of October, the leaves on the trees were turning into red and gold and the grass was fading from it's beautiful green. The air was cool, but it wasn't nothing that a simple sweatshirt could help take care of. Everything was peaceful it seemed, there was no longer danger that floated in the atmosphere in a long time. Granted, that there were still dark witches and wizards, as well as many others who were yet to be caught from the previous war. But nothing as dangerous as what was going on years ago. That was all long gone. It was under the assumption that no one would dare try to do what Voldemort had done as long as Harry Potter lived.

But the adventures her and her two best friends were over now. The three of them had taken exams for their seventh year in order to be completed with their schooling without having to actually go back to the school, mainly because Hermione forced them to do it. Harry and Ron were now aurors for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Magic where Hermione also worked and had taken a desk job, and also worked in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. She wouldn't do anything that would put her life in danger, not anymore. Not when she had a little girl now.

On February 13th 1999, Hermione had given birth to a baby girl that she named Abbey Granger. Now that Abbey was four, she had wavy light brown hair just like Hermione, except her hair wasn't bushy like Hermione's was. It reached to just to her shoulders. Abbey was built like any other average four year old girl. There was only one thing about her daughter that Hermione never really could get over. Abbey had the most beautiful, icy blue eyes that she had only seen on one other person before.

Abbey's father.

No one to this day knew who was the father of Hermione's child, besides Harry and Ron who had seen him once before when they were caught in the forest by the gang of snatchers, right after they had escaped from Death Eaters at the Lovegood's home. Reporters from the Dailey Prophet and other friends had always asked who was the father, but she would always say that she wouldn't give out the father's name and she never will. Many theories strung around for the first year or so after Abbey was born that maybe it was Ron or Harry that could possibly be the father. But as Abbey grew many people could see that the little girl didn't hold any resemblance to either of the two. Eventually, no one bothered her anymore. Which Hermione liked. She didn't want so much attention to be on her daughter, it wouldn't be healthy.

"Mommy!" Hermione's attention went immediately to the tiny yell, she could see Abbey swinging upside down from the monkey bars, waving her arms around so that her mother could see. Hermione laughed a little and waved back at daughter.

They were spending the day at the park that was in the neighborhood that they lived in. Their house was a couple streets away so they came to the park to play whenever Hermione didn't have to go to work. On days that she did work, Abbey would be babysat by her neighbor, who was an elderly woman that looked after her two granddaughters often. Hermione and Abbey lived in a muggle neighborhood, nobody knew about the magical world and that's how Hermione liked it. Abbey knew about magic but she was smart enough to know that she couldn't tell people about it. Hermione thought it was the best thing to do, so that Abbey would now be aware of both magic and non-magic worlds. She knew that her daughter would someday attend Hogwarts, because she had seen the occasional signs of her possessing magic. Especially when she was upset at the little boys that would come to the playground and pick on her. Something normal that that most boys did at their age by pulling a girls hair or taking their doll away. Hermione learned that she didn't need to step in, because if Abbey got upset, those boys would some how trip into a pile of dirt or even get stuck on the seats of the swings. It amused Hermione to no end.

But now, Abbey was playing with the two little girls that she was friends with - the granddaughters of her elderly neighbor. They were playing tag, and Abbey was giving them a hard time because she was quite fast. Another trait that Abbey carried that Hermione subconsciously saddened her. While her daughter was intelligent and had other traits that Hermione has, she couldn't ignore the fact that she was like her father as well.

Besides her, she could hear a small growl and looked down to see her german shepherd, Skip, was tensed and was alert for something. Hermione didn't pay attention to his behavior much, figuring it was a cat nearby. Hermione didn't become alert unless she saw Skip bark or bare his teeth.

Over a year ago Hermione had gone to one of the shopping malls in their town with Abbey and came across a pet store that was having a pet adoption day. Abbey pleaded with her mother to go inside and look around and immediately fell in love with a german shepherd that was already beginning to grow out of it's stages of puppy hood. Hermione asked if Abbey wanted a puppy or a kitten, but Abbey wouldn't budge away from the growing shepherd male that was wagging it's own tail and nuzzling it's head into Abbey's arms. "I'll name him Skip!" Hermione remembered her giggle, already assuming that her mother would get it. Which she did.

And since then Skip had taken on a protective role over the two of them, especially of Abbey which was exactly what Hermione wanted. She wanted to be sure that Abbey was safe even when she was away, and the dog was a warm sense of security for her.

Skip growled again and his ears perked up straighter, but still kept his sights on Abbey as she was chasing after one of the little girls, outstretching her hand so she could tag her as "it."

"Easy boy." Hermione said as she patted his back in a motion for him to settle down, but he remained tense. A chill rolled down her back as she felt the feeling of a pair of eyes boring into her. Looking around she didn't see anyone besides the elderly woman who sat over on a picnic table, reading her book and a man helping his son tie his shoes. She shivered again and this time looked behind her, but didn't see anything but a tall tree standing strong as the wind carried away some of its leaves.

_Weird._ Hermione thought but let the thought go as soon as it came as she looked at her wristwatch. "Abbey! Time to go home!" Hermione called her daughter and Skip barked happily, standing up with Hermione, wagging his tail as Abbey came running in their direction. "I caught them mommy! They said I couldn't but I told them I could!" The little girl smiled brightly as if she had just won a big prize in her accomplishment. "No one can outrun you, can they?" Hermione asked grabbing Abbey's hand with her free one as the other was holding the leash that was attached to the dog. They began to walk their way home, away from the park.

As they walked, Hermione kept getting the feeling that she was being followed but every time she looked around she wouldn't see anyone. She knew that their was no need to overreact but she picked up Abbey and carried her, stepping up her pace to get home quicker. Skip knew that she was feeling unease and quickened his step along with her. Abbey was the only one who wasn't aware of it, she was used to being carried at times because her mother always made the excuse that she wouldn't be able to do it forever and wanted to enjoy it while she could.

A few minutes passed and Hermione walked up the front porch steps to her two story home. She put Abbey back onto the ground as she unlocked the door and let Skip go in before Abbey did. It was the same routine that they always did as they came home. Skip would always go in first just in case their would be burglars about. Hermione never feared of any dark wizards, but their was still the danger of muggle crooks. Before walking into the house herself, she looked around one more time, but knew that she no longer felt the sensation of being watched or followed anymore.

"Go get washed up Abbey, I'll fix up some dinner." Hermione said to her daughter as she closed the front door behind her.

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><p>The sound of children laughing and playing weren't too far away, the sounds became closer with every step that Scabior took until finally he stood besides a tree and looked to see a playground with several children climbing all around it. He knew this was muggle territory, but he also knew that this was where he would find <em>her. <em>

For the last five years he had been locked up in Azkaban, for the crimes he had commited against muggle-borns. His sentence was that he was to serve fifteen years but the Wizengamot offered him a hearing at five years into his sentence and he had waited day after day for it to come. Whether they thought he deserved to be set free, he had a bargaining chip that he knew they Ministry wouldn't refuse.

It had started when he was beginning his first few months in Azkaban under different charges than he had from when he was there before. When he first stood before the Wizengamot he didn't offer them anything, not then when they were in the process of tracking down wanted criminals already. He knew he would have to wait a while, for the Ministry to become more desperate. As week after week went by he was allowed copies of the Dailey Prophet to be given to him in his cell. Scabior would look eagerly every day in hopes that he would see a photo or an article of the witch he had still obsessed over. He remembered the first article that he'd seen her in, she was being interviewed along with Potter and a few others about the Battle of Hogwarts. He remembered how sickly she had looked in the photo, telling reporters that she had caught a bug. He ripped her photo from the magical newspaper and kept it aside. After that he hadn't seen her too often anymore. A few times he caught her in the paper, one time it was announcing how she was going to go back to Hogwarts to take the final tests to complete her education.

After that it had been a few more months before he saw any sign of her in the Dailey Prophet again. Until he saw a picture of her with her stomach far stretched out from her, because she was pregnant. Jealousy and rage sprung within him as he wondered who she had slept with since him. In the paper, she was being congratulated for being accepted and taking a job at the Ministry working for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Towards the end a reporter questioned her of her pregnancy and how she was seven months along, if everything was going well and if she would reveal the father. The timeline was what first stood out to Scabior, then when he read further to see that she was still refusing to give information regarding the identity of the man who impregnated her.

After a little thinking and adding up the facts, he knew that the timing was more than a coincidence. She hadn't been with any other man besides him, and he was the father of the child growing inside of her. He stripped her picture from the paper and added it to the others. A few months later, on the front page of the Dailey Prophet, Scabior saw a picture of her in a hospital bed, with a tired yet happy smile as she looked down at the newborn baby that she was holding. She had given birth to a girl, who she named Abbey Lenore Granger. After that day, he no longer saw another picture of her or the baby again.

Scabior had then come to the conclusion that at his next hearing, he would make a deal with the Wizengamot that they wouldn't refuse. All he had to do was wait.

Now he stood there, under a disillusionment charm, with the picture of the girl and the child that he had stripped away from the paper. He wasn't looking at the picture, he was looking at the woman who sat on the bench in front of him. He wasn't sure which of the girls on the playground was his. Besides her was a german shepherd that seemed already weary of his presence, sensing him nearby. Scabior sneered, he wanted to get closer but couldn't. He couldn't have that dog reveal him here. But maybe if he just stunned the dog…

"Mommy!" His thoughts were snapped to see a little girl swinging upside down from a series of bars. Which he thought was weird, why children thought it amusing to act like monkeys he could never figure out. Scabior's eyes went back to the woman he had been watching only to see her waving back at the little girl who was swinging upside down.

_So that's Abbey then._ He contemplated. Looking at the girl who was now running around the playground away from a pair of two girls that were chasing her, obviously they were playing some kind of game. He noticed amusingly that she was very fast.

He couldn't see her that well to be able to tell what all other physical traits that she carried from the two of them. Except that she had shoulder length light brown hair, and it was wavy. Scabior smirked as he thought about the girl's hair was a split between his and her mother's. The color was right between the two of their hair colors, and her hair was thick like each of theirs too. But it wasn't bushy like her mother's and it wasn't as messy as his.

Scabior's smirk grew when he saw the woman he had been watching turn in his direction. She was looking dead at him and she didn't even know it. He grabbed the same pink scarf of hers that he had for the longest time and twisted it between his fingers in anticipation as he saw her stand up and call the little girl over, and they began their walk back home. He followed them from a distance because he didn't want to get to close to alert their dog, but he wasn't far enough that he wouldn't lose them. Scabior noticed how yet again the woman kept looking around, then picked up their daughter to quicken their walk. He had to keep himself from chuckling, she was precautious as ever.

It wasn't long after that when he saw her make a turn to walk up through a yard and onto a porch. Scabior looked over the property. The lawn was a vast open space with a couple of pine trees and rose bushes. There was even a garden that had yellow tulips, but where dying as the seasons where changing. There wasn't a car, since they were living in a muggle neighborhood that was something you might need but this was a small little town where everything was in a walking distance, and assumed that the bushy haired woman held the role of a work at home mom. When he knew that she worked at the Ministry now, just like him.

Scabior rubbed his fingers over the small badge that was attached inside of his leather coat at the thought.

The house was a two-story, red brick home with a matching wooden porch that had a table and a couple of chairs to go with it. There was also a white porch swing that had a doll laying on it's seat, and a bone that he assumed was for the dog that didn't lay from where the swing was.

Now that he knew where they lived at, he would return later that night. So he could confirm the suspicion that he had. Scabior was sure that the little girl was his, but he wanted to be absolutely positive before doing anything else. He wanted to be positive before he came back into the life of the woman he had hurt once before.

He looked at her one final time as she let the little girl and dog go inside. She looked behind her, still unknowing that she was really looking at him. Scabior smirked, and disapparated on the spot.

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><p><strong>AN: I hope you guys liked this chapter! Chapter two should be up either tonight or tomorrow since it's already half way finished. I think ya'll will be very pleased with the next chapter. There's going to be a really suspenseful "father/daughter" moment. I also just wanted to make it clear to all of ya'll that I'm not going to be writing Scabior OOC in this, I never have in any of my other fics and I don't plan too in this. I'm going to be keeping him as much in character as I can so that he fits well into the fic and yet he's still our Scabior! Review please, let me know what you think!**

**Have a nice day :)  
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	3. Chapter 2

Hermione stood in front of the sink, waving her wand as one by one the dirty dishes in the sink were being cleaned by the magically enhanced sponge, then being placed into the cupboards where they belonged after a dish towel dried them. Usually she would wash the dishes herself, and not use magic because she liked doing certain things on her own, but tonight wasn't one of those nights. Her thoughts were too muddled. Between work, trying to spend time with her daughter, and the uneasy feeling she had been having for the last few hours. It was unusual, she hadn't felt the feeling in a very long time and she had certainly hoped that she wouldn't experience the feeling ever again. Then again, this could all be coming from the amount of stress she was having at work lately.

They were working her more often than usual, and it was because the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was given several new tips about the whereabouts of hidden Death Eaters and snatchers. Which meant she had a lot of paperwork to fill out. When Hermione had asked Harry the other day at work about how the Ministry came upon new leads, he informed her that someone from Azkaban testified. When she asked who it was, he had shrugged and said that only those present in the Wizengamot knew the identity of the man. Hermione knew that the persons identity was going to remain secret because if the information was useful enough, the Wizengamot would strike a deal with them, and the person relaying the information would be set free for the information. If, on the other hand, the person was going to go straight back to his cell in Azkaban, then their face would be all over the Dailey Prophet. It was like that at one time for Igor Karkaroff, until someone from the council was paid heavily enough to spill the secret of the man who spoke against his fellow Death Eaters.

It was pity that if you had enough gold, you could get anything you possibly wanted. From materials to secrets. Hermione shook her head at the idea of how low some people were, of course she was rather curious who had given the whereabouts of the followers for the fallen dark wizard, but she wasn't willing to pay for the information. It wasn't worth her time.

Hermione let out a sigh as she finished the dishes and tucked her wand away. She turned and looked around the kitchen to see that it was spotless, which was what she liked. If her house was clean, then she wasn't worried about her daughters health, and a healthy Abbey made a very happy Hermione.

From the other room she could hear the television set was turned on and knew that her daughter was watching TV. It was an almost everyday thing for Abbey, after dinner she'd watch TV and then go up to bed shortly afterwards. Abbey of course wasn't like most kids either, she didn't watch cartoons that often. The little four year old was more fascinated by watching shows about animals, bugs, reptiles, and all sorts of creatures. Abbey of course was most fascinated by dragons, whether they were the magical type or the muggle type. Hermione was glad that her daughter liked something, but didn't like it when on holidays they would go to the Weasley's house for dinner, and Charlie - who works with dragons - would tell her all sorts of stories. Abbey was now currently obsessed with wanting to work with dragons someday.

_Terrific. I can already feel the gray hairs and worry lines setting in and she can't even ride a bike yet!_ Hermione sighed inwardly.

"Look at the dragonfly mommy!" She could hear Abbey call from the other room. Hermione walked into the room just as whatever show that Abbey was watching had switched to commercial, missing whatever her daughter had wanted her to see. "You missed it mommy, it was brilliant!" Abbey said excitedly. If anything had the word "dragon" in it, you can bet that Abbey would love it.

"C'mon Abbey." Hermione gestured for her daughter to get up off the couch and up the stairs as she turned off the TV. "It's bedtime." She was answered by a groan but didn't have to repeat herself as Abbey made her way up the stairs with Skip following after her.

When she could hear her daughter shut the bathroom door, knowing that she was brushing her teeth, Hermione began her round along the first floor of the house to make sure everything was locked and shut.

The front and back door were shut and locked, as well as the all of the other windows. Of course, she knew that they were already shut and locked because they had been for weeks as the cold was settling itself in the small town that they occupied. Hermione then closed the curtains that were attached to the kitchen window and slid the shades across the sliding glass door that connected itself between the dining area of the kitchen to the back patio. All of the lights downstairs had already been shut off with a simple turn to each dial that was on the wall, each dial worked for the hallway, the kitchen, the dining area, and the living room. Now all that was left was for her to close the curtains that were in the living room.

As she shut the each of the curtains in the large room, she had finally come to the last window that looked out into her front yard and onto the street. As Hermione reached up to close the curtains she looked out into the street, and her heart skipped a beat. She could see a man out in the middle of the street…looking directly at her house. It was too dark for her to see what he looked like, but could only make out the outline enough to know it was a man. Immediately Hermione reached down to grab her wand out of her pocket and looked back out the window to see the figure had disappeared.

"The hell?" Hermione said in disbelief. Did she see what she thought she saw? Or was this another part from having so much stress lately? She squinted her eyes as she peered out into the darkness one more time before shutting the curtains tight.

Walking up the stairs and reaching the top, she could see that at the end of the hall a light was shining from underneath Abbey's bedroom and knew that her daughter was still up. Knowing that Abbey was waiting for her, she walked into her daughters bedroom to see her sitting on her bed, petting Skip who was curled up at the end of the bed, ready to go to sleep himself. Abbey climbed underneath her blanket and laid her head down on her pillow upon seeing her mothers arrival.

"Do you want Skip to sleep with you tonight mommy?" She asked as she looked up worriedly at Hermione. Abbey always knew somehow when her mother felt a little on edge. "No, I'm fine sweetie." Hermione smiled as she pushed the hair away from her daughters face before bending over to kiss her on the forehead. "Now get some sleep." Hermione whispered, walking out of the room and shutting the door behind her. Heading to her own bedroom for some much needed sleep.

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><p>Scabior stepped across the roof, being careful not to slip as he made his way over to the window that he was sure was where he needed to go. He remembered standing out in the street earlier that evening, trying to figure out how he was going to get into the house and where to go, and just then he had seen one of the windows light up on the side of the house. He leaned over to the side to get a better view of the window that was on the right side of the house, and could see that inside the window was light purple wallpaper with a shelf that had a few stuffed animals resting on top of it.<p>

But he hadn't been careful like he should have been and had forgotten to conceal himself under the disillusionment charm, then was caught off guard when he saw his woman stand in the window, looking out at him. Scabior's eyes widened in shock and for a moment he thought that he was caught, until he realized that mixed between the no light in the room she was in and he was out in the very darkened street; she couldn't see him. Quickly, as soon as she looked away he had casted the concealment charm. Right after he saw her look back out, but knew that she could no longer see and after another few seconds passed she had closed the curtains and left. It was a close call.

Now he wasn't so worried. He knew that she was in bed by now and his only obstacle was the mangy dog that she had felt the need to own. Scabior knew that he had to take that dog out before he could really do much of anything.

Luck seemed to have struck him as he peered through the window to see into the room. There was a white double door closet that was on the same wall of the door that most likely led into the hallway, with a matching white dresser with a few pictures and jewelry boxes on top. Several shelves decorated the rooms with stuffed animals on them as well as a purple bookshelf that was filled with children's books; Abbey liked to read. _She's just like her mother_. Scabior rolled his eyes as he took in the rest of the room. The carpet he could tell matched the light purple wall paper, and lined up against a wall in the room was a single bed. There was a white blanket that covered it with a swirling purple pattern that decorated it, laying underneath it was the sleeping form of Abbey.

Much to his disappointment, he could see the bloody dog laying at the end of her bed.

Time to take care of that. Scabior thought as he pulled his wand out of his wand holster, then opening the window slightly.

When it made a tiny creak that even he had barely heard, didn't stop the dog that was just a few feet away to perk up his ears and released a small warning growl. Scabior didn't give the dog a chance to even look his way before he silently stunned it, making it fall into unconsciousness. He smirked, stepping into the room, leaving the window ajar behind him.

Quietly, he stepped to the sleeping form of the little girl and looked down at her. Scabior's smirk had fallen and a look of awe replaced it, the small girl was beautiful, just like her mother. Her haired was sprawled across the pillow beneath her and he lips were slightly parted as she slept soundly, her tiny arms were wrapped snuggly around a light brown teddy bear. She looked, he tried to think of the right word…

Adorable?

Yes, that must've been the right word. It surely wasn't something that wasn't in his everyday vocabulary, but it seemed to fit.

Before Scabior could stop himself, his hand reached down to her and the back of his hand ran down her face lightly. He couldn't believe that he had helped create such a beautiful child, and was glad to know that she looked more like her mother than himself.

His fingers reached into her hair as he found a single strand and plucked it quickly from her, hoping that she was a deep sleeper and wouldn't have felt the sharp yet small, tug. He had needed this hair, he knew that at the Ministry there was someone that could run a simple test for him. He wanted to absolute proof that the little girl was his, even though he was very positive himself. Scabior needed the proof so his plan to get back into the child's mothers life would be possible, and easier.

He then glanced down at the girl one last time and turned away to climb back out the window.

"Who are you?" Scabior stood petrified and eyes widen from the small voice that came from behind him. Quickly he formed his face into something along the lines of calmness as he turned back around to face the little girl again. Only to have the shock come straight back to him and the emotion betraying his calm physical features.

She had stunning, beautiful icy blue eyes. Just like him.

"Mister?" Scabior saw her ask again as she sat up. He was amazed that she didn't look frightened one bit, but was rather curious. "You're just dreaming princess." He finally answered her in a whisper, sitting on the edge of her bed besides her and pushed gently at her shoulders for her to lay back down, which she did. He couldn't stop staring into those eyes of hers, his eyes.

The little one surely did take him by surprise, and no one was able to do that besides her mother. Figures. An inner voice commented lightly.

"So you're not real?" Abbey had asked, still making no sign of wanting to call her mother.

"Dreams don't always have to be just your imagination." Scabior winked and moved the blanket to cover her body more, "Now close your eyes." Without any hesitation, Abbey did.

Scabior stood up from the bed and walked back to the window, checking to see if she had opened her eyes yet, he saw that she didn't. He smirked as he stepped back out of the window, closing it, and then he was gone.

* * *

><p>"Mommy, are you awake?" Hermione heard a voice ask her and she let out a small grumble in answer, obviously not fully awake. "Are you up?" She heard the voice ask again. Hermione popped open one eye to see her daughter looking at her, clutching her teddy bear.<p>

"No sweetie, I was just ready to go for a walk to the park." Hermione answered tiredly, knowing that her daughter was too young to understand sarcasm. "What is it Abbey?" She asked before the little girl could respond to the previous statement.

"There was a man in my room." Abbey said rather calmly.

Hermione bolted straight out of bed without another second to spare, grabbed her wand from her nightstand and headed straight for her daughters room. She opened the door rather loudly which caused the sleeping dog on the bed to jump in surprise, looking at her with a weird expression. She then held back the temptation to roll her eyes.

_She was just dreaming Hermione_. A voice in her head said calmingly _Or else Skip would've started barking like mad._

She then looked down at Abbey who was standing behind her, "Abbey, sweetie, you were just dreaming."

"I don't think I was mommy. He told me that I was too but I didn't believe him." Abbey said with certainty.

Hermione was too tired for this, and was sure that it was very late into the night too. She grabbed Abbey by the hand and walked her back to her bed, tucking her in. "Well if the man told you that you were, then you must've been dreaming." She smiled. "But-" Abbey tried to argue but Hermione shushed her softly. "Go back to sleep honey, tomorrow you're going over to Ms. Cindy's house to play with her granddaughters and you're going to need your rest." With that, she kissed her daughter on the cheek and walked out of the room. But before she could close the door behind her, she heard Abbey again.

"He had eyes like me mommy. Just like me."

Hermione stood in the doorway, frozen at the statement that her daughter had just said. _No. It's not possible._ Her own voice reassured.

Her first thoughts had immediately gone to Scabior, Abbey's father. But it wasn't possible that he had been there, not when he was in Azkaban. He wouldn't be getting out until Abbey was fourteen. And even if he were to be out, which wasn't likely, he wouldn't be coming here. Scabior wouldn't want anything to do with her or their daughter. Though Abbey saying she saw a man with eyes the same color as hers was something to be considered, since her eye color wasn't exactly common. True that there were several people that had blue eyes, but she had never seen anyone with eyes like Abbey's besides her father. _It was only a dream Hermione._ The voice had to reassure her again.

It was right too, because nothing could get inside of Abbey's room with Skip knowing. And if Skip knew someone was in there, then she'd hear barking before a loud yell from a fresh bite. Abbey claiming to see a man was all in her head.

With that final thought, Hermione closed the door behind her and went back to her own room to sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I hope you guys liked this chapter! You got to see a little "father-daughter" moment going on here. Even though Abbey didn't even know who he was. The next chapter is going to be great as you start to see the plot of the story being to form. I'm already writing chapter 3 right now! I haven't been this exciting over writing a fic since _Fascination_. Please review! I'd love to know what your opinions are! The next chapter will be up soon.**

**Have a great day! :)  
><strong>


	4. Chapter 3

_Tap, tap, tap. _

There was a small sound of something tapping lightly against glass, but it was ignored. Hermione was sitting in the living room, catching up on some of her paperwork from the Ministry. She knew that she didn't have to be at work for another two days, but it was best if it was all out of the way early anyways. It was the same way when it came to homework back when she was at Hogwarts, old habits never die.

_Tap, tap, tap! _

Finally looking up from her work, she could see through the window that a brown owl was perched up on the window sill with envelopes in it's beak. It looked slightly annoyed that it was still out there waiting for her to open the window.

"Sorry!" Hermione apologized to the winged creature and flicked her wand, opening the window.

After that, the owl flapped it's wings roughly and made the small trip from the window to the armrest of the couch that she was sitting on. Hermione grabbed the envelopes and placed it on top of her work as she gave the brown owl a treaty tip. The owl hooted delightfully and took flight back out the window, flying to it's next destination.

Sighing, she looked down at the papers she was delivered and scanned through each of them. In one envelope contained two tickets for Ginny's upcoming Quidditch match, but she already knew that they would go to waste. Abbey was still to young to go to such a loud and crowded arena. Another envelope contained a few photos of Fleur who was currently pregnant with a little girl, alongside with Bill. Fleur was always sending her progress photos and questions since Hermione had already gone through the pregnancy experience before.

Next was her subscription to The Quibbler, who Hermione never had the heart to cancel since she was still good friends with Luna Lovegood. She shook her head as she read across a title on the front page about kits being sold so you could have tea parties with garden gnomes.

With another flick of her wand, the magazine flew into a drawer on one of the stands in the hallways and was satisfied when she heard the drawer shut and click as it locked itself. She had to make sure that Abbey never did read these magazines when she got old enough to really read. A part of her believed that her daughter would be smart enough to not belief in much of the nonsense that The Quibble published, but you could never be sure.

Abbey was at Ms. Cindy's house for the day, to play with the other two girls that were her age while Hermione caught up with her paperwork and cleaned up the house. Who happened to be blonde haired twins. They used to enjoy tricking Abbey around about their identities until one day one of them "mysteriously" had neon green hair after climbing out of the kiddy pool they played in. Hermione couldn't help but laugh at the memory of walking over there that same day to pick her up and seeing the look the elderly woman had made as she kept panicking over the hair color of her granddaughter.

Hermione looked up at the clock on the wall to see that it was quarter to six o'clock, and that soon Ms. Cindy would be bringing Abbey home soon. Sighing, she shuffled all of her papers back into one neat pile and placed them in her briefcase and placed the two envelopes from her friends into the bag as well. She ignored to look in the Dailey Prophet that was also delivered by the owl, and placed it on the coffee table in front of her. She could read it later.

She flicker her wand a couple times, watching her briefcase float up the stairs, knowing that it was going to her bedroom.

Hermione got up from the couch and walked down the hallway, towards the bathroom and passed by the doorframe that led into the kitchen. She caught a glimpse of black as she passed by. Pausing briefly in her steps, she retraced her steps to look back through the doorway into the kitchen. Standing in front of the opened refrigerator, was a man wearing a black coat, greenish looking plaid pants, leather boots, and a messy braid trailing down his back. Looking a bit more closely she could she a little bit of red in the hair too.

Why did he look so familiar from behind?

_Why is he in your house! _A voice screamed.

Hermione raised her wand immediately and opened her mouth to shout a curse but her wand was already out of her hand as she heard the familiar disarming spell being called as the man turned around.

"Hello beautiful." He grinned as he placed his wand back into his coat. Hermione gaped at him in disbelief. She looked around her, already wondering where the bloody hell was Skip when she needed him. "The mutt's asleep soundly on the porch." He said as if he had read her mind. "I didn't want him to ruin the surprise."

"Scabior." Hermione said blankly as she greeted him. She wasn't going to show him any signs of emotion, she wasn't going to let him know that really she was angry, that she was upset. "How did you get out?" She asked rather calmly "If dementors are looking for you I don't want them showing up on my doorstep."

"No need to worry love," Scabior coaxed as he took a few steps closer to her, but she didn't move back any, she wouldn't let him intimidate her. "I'm a free man now."

"How?" Hermione questioned. It was impossible that he could be released now, she knew that he was sentenced fifteen years and he was out ten years too early for her liking. "Haven't you read the papers? The Ministry's got new leads on wanted criminals." He answered.

Hermione's mind floated back to the memory of how the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was much busier now that it had been since the end of the war due to the fact that new information was received on whereabouts of many fugitives. Which now made her remember that a prisoner from Azkaban was the reason for the newly acquired information, that so called prisoner had made a deal for it as well. Scabior was the prisoner who struck the deal, and now she was fully aware of what the deal was now.

"So you're the one who's responsible for all of the increased paperwork for me?" She asked him, with hardly any humor added.

Scabior chuckled as he took yet another step so that there was only a foot of space separating the two of them as he flashed a small silver badge that was in his inner coat. "I also got this shiny gadget for the job they gave me upon my release." When Hermione made a questioning look, he continued. "The Wizengamot was so pleased with the work I did before I was arrested, they decided to rehire me as one of their bounty hunters. I have every right to do what I want like the Auror's do, except I don't have limitations with warrants and paperwork." He ended with a wink.

If she hadn't matured as much as she did with having a child of her own and raising it, she would've blushed with his closeness and charm that he still apparently had. But she didn't blush, she just stared up at him with annoyance. When he raised his hand to touch her, something

clicked inside of her and her own hand quickly slapped his away.

"I don't care why you're out of Azkaban, and I don't care what you're doing with your life now." She growled "You have no rights here and I just want you out of my home before I call an Auror to remove you." With that, she turned around and made to walk out of the room to pick up her wand.

"I know she's mine Hermione." She heard Scabior call from behind her. She froze on the spot but didn't dare to turn to look at him. Not knowing how to respond to what he said correctly she waited for him to speak again. "Over the years I kept tabs on you through the Dailey Prophet. I knew the timing between the last time we were together and her birth was too much to just be coincidence. I had to be absolutely sure, so I had someone at the Ministry do a spell for me to verify."

Hermione swallowed, "She's not your daughter."

"My name is on her file as her father, the spell can't make a mistake."

"I said you're not her father." She said more sternly and turned to face him. "You don't exist for her, and you don't exist for me. You gave up anything that we could've had together when you took me to the Manor back then."

"I didn't have a choice." Scabior whispered, but didn't make any moves to walk towards her this time.

"Oh really?" Hermione scoffed. "When didn't you have a choice? When you were chasing me down along with my friends in the forest like an animal or when Bellatrix was torturing me?"

"Now listen, you kno-" He began but was cut off with the sound of the doorbell ringing throughout the house.

Hermione knew who it was, it was Ms. Cindy bringing Abbey home from her play-day with the twin girls, but she didn't make a move to answer it. She wanted the woman to think Hermione went out, and would just bring Abbey back later. Abbey shouldn't be here when her father was. The doorbell rang again and she still didn't move until Scabior made a gesture for her to move for the door. "Answer it." He ordered.

For some odd reason, she went to the door.

Hermione swallowed and looked back at him briefly before placing her hand on the knob. She closed her eyes and then formed a fake smile as she opened the door to see a short elderly woman with a baby blue sundress, gray hair pulled up into a tight bun, and glasses that were obviously too big for her; they were almost sliding off of her nose.

"Hello there!" She greeted with fake happiness as she quickly grabbed Abbey and moved her to her. "Thank you for bringing her home."

"It was no problem Hermione, she was a delight as always." The old woman replied "I'll see you in a couple of days, bye Abbey dear!" She waved down at the five year old and walked off the porch and onto the sidewalk, completely oblivious to Hermione's inner turmoil.

"Abbey." Hermione said robotically, not knowing how else to really feel and still not having let her pass the door. "There is someone here, and I want you to be on your best behavior."

"Is Uncle Harry here?" An excited grin grew across her face and pushed out of Hermione's grasp and ran inside past her, but stopped. Hermione knew that she could see that it wasn't Harry that was there. Closing the door, she was prepared for anything her daughter might say or do except for the smile that was still on the little girls face.

"I told you I wasn't dreaming mommy!" Abbey smiled as she waved at Scabior who stood a few feet from her. He arched an eyebrow in fascination and in amusement down at Abbey. "You told her about me?" He asked with a small smile and was answered with a nod. "Mommy told me to always tell her if someone old I don't know talks to me."

If this were a different situation, Hermione would've started laughing at the face that Scabior made at the comment Abbey said about him looking "old".

Shaking the humorous thought, Hermione looked between the two, wondering what they were talking about for a moment and then suddenly remembered the events of last week when Abbey had woken her up out of her sleep, because she claimed that a man was in her room. Her head snapped back in Scabior's direction. "You were in my daughter's room?"

"_Our_ daughter's room." Scabior corrected her, eyes never leaving Abbey's face.

Oblivious to their conversation, Abbey walked forward so that she was in front of him. Hermione opened her mouth to tell her to get away, but something kept her from doing so. "Your eyes are pretty like mine." The little girl pointed out to the man in front of her. "Ah, they are, aren't they?" Scabior smirked down at her.

There was a long pause between the two of them, until she asked "Are you my daddy?"

Scabior's eyes widened in shock at the sudden question from the little girl, he was clearly not expecting her to ask him that. Hermione was stunned as well, she didn't know what to do. It seemed that the five year old had unknowingly taken this situation into her own hands. For a split second it looked like Scabior had looked up at Hermione as if asking her for an answer, but she remained silent.

Sighing, he crouched down so that he was eye level with Abbey and he continued to look at her for a few seconds longer before answering her. "Yes." A large smile stretched across Abbey's face and she made a move to hug him but Hermione finally snapped out of her shock, knowing that his had gone to far and snapped "Abbey, go upstairs and take a bath."

"But mom…" Abbey whined as she turned to look up at her mother. "Now Abbey." Was all Hermione needed to say for her daughter to take one more look at Scabior and disappeared up the stairs. Hermione's gaze then went to the former snatcher as he rose from his crouched position. She noticed that his eyes were still on the staircase, he had watched Abbey leave. He then looked at her and right before the question could come out of his mouth, Hermione took the liberty to answer it already.

"She doesn't need to get anymore upset than she will be when you leave."

"Who says that I'm leaving?" Scabior's brow rose.

"You left me behind, why would my daughter be any different to you?"

"Do I have to correct you again? She's my daughter to you know." He snapped. "And you know that if the situation was different then I would've never left. I couldn't help you, if I did then we both would've been killed immediately."

"So instead of doing anything," Hermione choked a little "You decided that it was better to allow yourself to get thrown out while that woman tortured me? Than to risk anything else? Sure, let Hermione get tortured! I'm sure she'll be alright." She ended with heavy sarcasm, tears threatened to leak but she wouldn't let them fall. She wouldn't let him see exactly how much she was still hurt to this day. The only thing that she wanted was for him to leave and never come back. Her life was doing just fine, why did he have to walk back into it?

"Why did you come here Scabior?" Hermione asked, looking down at the floor. "Why did you go to the Wizengamot, knowing that there will always be a chance that your identity will be revealed?"

Scabior didn't answer at first, he only closed the space between them and pulled her up to look at him by her chin. He looked into her eyes, and a chill ran down her back as it felt like he was gazing into her very soul at that moment. He still had yet to answer her, but his hand reached inside his inner pocket that was located on the left side of his chest, then pulled out a small folded up piece of paper. He then placed the piece of paper into her hand and released his hold on her chin, so that she could look at it.

That's exactly what she did. Hermione unfolded the piece of paper and let out a small gasp. It was a picture of Hermione laying in a hospital bed looking down at her newborn girl, Abbey; the same picture that she allowed the Dailey Prophet to publish.

"For you."

* * *

><p>The room was cold and dark, it was also too small for the several cloaked men that stood in it, all of them seemed to keep their gaze on the same thing. A man, tied down to a rickety chair, whimpering. "Please…please…no more…" He begged. The defenseless man was only answered by chuckles from the cloaked men and then a hard thump was heard followed by a painful moan.<p>

A little away from the group, was a large and hairy looking man standing by a window. He was staring out of it at the darkness, and watched the rain trickle down the glass. His gaze never faltered even as someone came up from behind him and spoke.

"Greyback," The cloaked man began "They found our hideout in Scotland. It seems as every day passes we're losing more of our men because someone ratted us out!" He finished with venom dripping from his voice. The werewolf that was still looking out the window bared his teeth menacingly, revealing his horribly yellow colored teeth. "How many?" He demanded, more than asked.

"Ten arrested, four killed, and the rest managed to escape the Aurors." The other man answered. "If only we could find out who gave us away, I'd love to tear him limb from limb!"

Greyback finally turned away from the window and his sneer had turned into a twisted grin as he looked from the man who had just spoke to the slumped over man tied to the chair on the other side of the room. "And that's the reason why we have our guest here with us tonight." He pushed past the cloaked men, allowing his boots to make a thundering like noise as they hit the wooden floors one at a time until he was in front of the badly beaten man. He had sat up from his slumped position when the werewolf came before him, which was a smart move on his behalf. Blood was flowing from his nose and mouth, as his nose was broke and he was a few teeth missing; bruises and other cuts covered his arms, face, and his neck. His once navy blue robes was soaked in his own sweat and blood. A small green and yellow pendant hung from his neck, it looked like it was used as a weapon as well to choke him a time or two already.

"I don't understand what you people want from me…" The beaten man breathed heavily "I don't have much money, but I have a family…please…" He began to beg but was cut off when he saw Greyback pull out his wand.

"You work at the Ministry don't you?" Greyback asked "You're one of the jurors?"

"Y-Yes…but what does my-?"

"Shut up!" Greyback shouted "I'll ask the questions, and all you have to do is answer them correctly!" He waited for a response, and then went on once the other man nodded his head fearfully. Greyback twisted his wand in his hand as he thought for a moment on how to begin. He wanted to get it straight to the point.

"Duvall, isn't it?" He didn't wait for the other to answer "Not too long ago, someone from Azkaban came before the Wizengamot and spilled all of his secrets about those who fought on the side of the Dark Lord, correct?"

"Y-Yes." The beaten man named Duvall answered.

"I'm not going to beat around the bush with you, I want the name of the traitor and you're going to tell me or else I'll make sure that you beg for death." The heavy-set werewolf warned as he placed the tip of his wand under the man's chin and shared eye contact for a moment. "What are you going to do to him?" Duvall asked. Which was the wrong thing to do.

"Crucio!" Greyback cursed, enjoying the ear-piercing screams a little too much. He allowed for another minute to tick by before he lifted the unforgivable curse. Duvall still felt the need to deny giving the name up. "What good will it do to you about him? Killing him won't stop the Auror's!"

"Crucio!" Greyback yelled again.

After it was lifted again, the Ministry worker was gasping for air it seemed but his defiance was beginning to slip. "Please, that man has a child now…he did it only for his family…"

Just when Greyback was ready to curse him again, but stopped himself as what was just said registered. Not only did he know that the person responsible for the mess that they were all in now was a man, though he was assumed it was already, but whoever the man was had a family, a kid of his own flesh and blood. He grinned at the newly acquired information. Originally he only planned to just torture the traitor and kill him by giving him to Inferi, but a whole new idea was forming now. Resisting the urge to chuckle at the thought, Greyback dug the tip of his wand into Duvall's neck. "You have a family too, don't you Duvall?" When the look of fear had once again struck the man's face, Greyback knew that he had him.

"If the next words out of your mouth isn't the name of the one I'm looking for, then I will make you watch as I kill your family as slowly and painfully as I can before I end your miserable life." He threatened, and the werewolf was not bluffing. It had been a while since he had sunk his teeth into flesh. He waited, and when as the man seemed to be debating something in his head, Greyback stood up straight and pocketed his wand "Suit yourself."

"No! His name is Scabior! Scabior!" Duvall screamed "I'm not lying, please! Don't hurt my family!"

Greyback's fists tightened at his sides until he heard his knuckles crack. A fiery rage erupted through him as the other men in the room were already cursing the former snatcher's name. That man out of all people, was the traitor? He was the leader of one of the most successful groups of snatchers. They worked alongside each other. Of course they weren't friends, on the contrary they were borderline enemies, but to suspect him of all people of treachery. Scabior was someone Greyback would've never suspected. None the less, he was going to make that man suffer.

Revealing a sadistic grin, he pulled back out his wand and pointed it directly at Duvall. "Now you're going to tell me who the mother of his kid is. Unless you like the idea of your children being skinned alive." Duvall lowered his gaze to look at the dirty floor below him, and didn't hesitate in his answer this time.

"Hermione Granger."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I'm soooo sorry for the late update ya'll! Over the last two weeks I've been extremely busy and I just didn't have a whole lot of time to work on the fic, but I managed to get it done. I hope you liked the chapter. If you noticed any errors, I'm going to apologize for it. I'm a bit too lazy right now to re-read through the chapter to check and fix any mistakes. But I'll check through tomorrow or something and fix anything wrong. I felt so bad when I would read reviews and messages from several of you about updating. I kept shouting at my screen, "I'm sorry! I'm trying to work as much as I can!" D:  
><strong>

**Anyways - The plot begins to form! DUN DUN DUN. What will happen in the next chapter? I'll let your imaginations run wild until the next update. Which I will try have it up within the week! I also need to update Maelstrom soon too . .  
><strong>

**Keep on reviewing please, it helps inspire me to keep going! Have a great day! :)**


	5. Chapter 4

Hermione gaped at the picture that she was now holding in her hands. Even though she had seen this photo a million times due to the fact that it was framed in her bedroom and it was also in almost all of her friends homes, it was as if she was looking at it for the first time. Hermione didn't expect Scabior to have had this photo with him while he was in Azkaban. Judging by the few creases in the photo, she could tell that he had stared at this picture many times.

She remained silent as she stared at the picture herself. She was sitting up in the hospital bed, her hair had been tied back into a bun and a few loose strands of hair had fallen out of it from the struggle of giving birth. Looking down at the small wrapped up bundle in her arms was a already sound asleep newborn baby. It was a girl. A beautiful baby girl. Throughout her entire pregnancy she allowed herself to stay in the dark about her child's gender, mainly because she wasn't really sure how to react if she knew the gender. But when the nurse had placed her daughter in her arms for the first time, it was as if everything in her life had finally made sense, and all of the darkness from the war before had finally faded away.

"How long have you had this picture?" Hermione whispered, her eyes still not leaving the photo.

"The day that they released the prophet with it." Scabior answered, taking a step towards her.

At his sudden movement Hermione snapped out of her daze and shoved the picture back into his hand and stepped away from him. What was she doing? She shouldn't let him get this close to her, she wouldn't allow herself to fall back into his charms again.

"Get out of my house." She snapped.

"Are we still on that?" Scabior mused as his brow raised in question at her. He continued to walk towards her as he tucked the photo carefully back into his coat, but Hermione kept backing further away from him until she looked down to see that her feet were right by her wand. Quickly she bent down and picked it up and pointed it at Scabior, halting him in his steps.

"Get out Scabior." Hermione demanded sternly as she kept her wand raised at his chest.

Scabior tsked and his lips curled into an arrogant smirk "C'mon love, we both know that you don't have it in you to harm me."

He was right. She kept her wand raised still though as she thought. As much as she hated the man standing in front of her, she knew that she could never bring herself to do anything to the man she had fell in love with so long ago, especially when he wasn't doing anything to cause her or her daughter any harm.

Behind her, outside the front door she could hear a shuffling sound and she had to hold back the temptation to smile.

"I may not, but I know someone who does." At that, she pointed her wand behind her at the front door and it swung open. Immediately, Skip sprinted through the open doorway with a bark as he made his way at his target, Scabior.

"Shit!" Scabior said as he was apparently not expecting the dog to have woken from its nap so soon, on instinct he hopped on top of one of the counters behind him and also casted a shield charm. Skip managed to stop before he ran face first into the shield but it didn't keep him from growling and barking fiercely up at Scabior. The german shepherd certainly did not forget the man who had stunned him. "Call your mutt off woman!" Scabior shouted at Hermione, knowing that if he raised his shield, the dog would already be on him before he would have time to cast a spell.

Hermione only ignored him as she placed a silencing charm on the kitchen, she didn't want Abbey to hear any of this. "I'll call him off if you leave."

"I'm not going anywhere!" Scabior growled "I have my rights to see and be with my daughter and I'm not going to leave you again." Skip's barking didn't cease so he had to speak louder than he usually would've. "I'm going to show you that I'm not going anywhere, that I won't leave you again. Besides, you're going to let me stay here anyway."

"Oh, am I?" Hermione's voice dripped with sarcasm. He really didn't seem to know her like he used to if he was thinking that.

"If you kick me out of here, then I'll go straight to the Ministry and I'll get custody rights with Abbey and you know I can get them with everything I've given them. You won't have any say in it, so would you rather let me have Abbey when you can't be around because I know that you're too pigheaded to trust me with my own daughter; or would you rather let me stay here with the Ministry out of this where I can be near you and my daughter without you having to constantly worry?" Scabior looked at her and she knew that he was serious with the threat he had just given her.

So he did still really know her. _Shit. _Hermione thought.

"Down." Hermione commanded and instantly Skip ceased his growling and walked to her side and sat there, his eyes still trained on Scabior, eagerly waiting for the order to go after him again.

Scabior waited a moment, but finally realizing that she wasn't going to sick the dog on him, he relinquished his shield and scooted off the counter. He looked at her with a steady gaze, not blinking.

"I take it that you're going to let me stay then?"

"I don't really have much of a choice, do I?"

"You do, you just don't like the other option." Scabior grinned.

Hermione rolled her eyes and patted Skip on top of the head, silently telling him that everything was alright. The german shepherd seemed to have given Scabior a mean look before he trotted out of the kitchen and up the stairs to wherever Abbey was.

"There are going to be rules here Scabior, and if you don't follow them, I think Skip won't mind having another go at you." She warned with a small smirk of her own showing. Scabior made a small clicking sound with his tongue in annoyance but didn't say anything.

"My neighbors are to not know about you living here, because the last thing I want is having to make up yet another story to the neighborhood about you living here."

"I'm her-"

"You may be, but you don't look like father material to these people and the last thing I need is government officials knocking on my front door about Abbey's well being." Hermione snapped, cutting of his interruption. "You will sleep in the guest room that is in fact next to Abbey's room and you will not stun the dog again."

"I was hoping to be bed mates with you beautiful." Scabior winked "Years spent in Azkaban have made me a bit lonely if you catch my drift."

"I catch you in my room and I'll enhance the length of Skip's teeth." Hermione threatened. "He's very trained, he will not attack you unless you're attacking Abbey or I. Which I certain you won't be doing, but he will rip you apart on my command too."

"Alright sweetheart, I think I can handle a few simple rules." He said as he walked passed her to the staircase

"Where are you going?" Hermione questioned, her brows furrowing. She was beating herself up on the inside for asking the question, but she didn't think he would walk away from a conversation with her yet.

"I'd like to have a chat with my daughter if that's alright with you." Scabior replied, not stopping to hear or see her reply and went up the stairs.

A part of Hermione wanted to follow him, to supervise him since he was going to Abbey, but she stopped herself. She had to trust him, even just a little, when it came to their daughter. Hermione knew Scabior, and she knew that he wouldn't harm her. She would just have to let it go and let her daughter have time with her father.

Turning to the fridge, Hermione decided to cook dinner to distract herself.

* * *

><p>Scabior walked calmly down the hall, knowing that he would find the door he was looking for the moment he saw it. After passing two doors he came to a stop, knowing that he found Abbey's room. The door would've been hard to miss anyways since it had butterfly stickers and some glitter all over it. He held back the temptation to roll his eyes at how girly this was, even for his daughter, in his opinion.<p>

Turning the knob and walking into the room, he saw Abbey sitting in the middle of the room playing with a few dolls and a dollhouse. Curled up in a ball beside her was the dog, who perked up the moment he walked in and gave him a menacing like glare. _Aren't we going to be best friends. _Scabior thought as he glared right back at Skip for a brief moment.

"Hi daddy." The tiny voice called him back from his attention on the dog. Scabior looked at Abbey with a mixture between astonishment and bewilderment. The title of "daddy" was new to him, a part of him liked it coming from her, but he couldn't believe that she was already calling him by that name. For once Scabior was a loss for words. It was like something was caught in his throat and he didn't know what exactly to say to her. Would a simple "hello" be okay? _Of course it wouldn't be! She's your daughter not a stranger!_

Deciding to ignore saying a greeting, he walked the few steps it took him to reach Abbey and since there weren't any chairs exactly fit for him in the room, he lowered himself to the floor and sat almost awkwardly Indian style beside her. The opposite side of where Skip was.

Scabior didn't fit in this room. It was a place that was pretty and girly, with stuffed animals and dolls on the floor. And here he was sitting in the room next to his own child who seemed to be the only other person on this planet besides her mother to put him in such a quiet state. If the boys in Azkaban could see him now.

Looking at the two dolls in her hands he asked, "What are you playing?"

"I'm playing house." Abbey smiled, she must've noticed Scabior's questioning look and explained by gesturing to the girl doll and the male doll "This is the mommy and daddy," she then pointed to a smaller doll that was bundled up in a tiny blanket "That's their baby. The daddy just came home from work to kiss the mommy and then play with the baby."

Scabior frowned slightly, for some reason the make-believe game his daughter was playing somehow hit a sore spot somewhere in him.

There was a long pause before Abbey spoke up again. "Mommy is mad at you, isn't she?" Scabior looked at Abbey, who had put her dolls onto the floor and just stared down at the blankly. He wasn't sure how to comfort her without having to lie, and he didn't want to lie. "I don't think she likes me too much princess."

"She doesn't hate you, she's just mad at you." She responded, looking up at him. "If she hated you, you wouldn't be in my room."

He supposed Abbey was right. He knew that Hermione was feeling a lot of things towards him, but hate wasn't one of them. That woman is the brightest witch out there, and no doubt if he would've gone through with his threat about involving the Ministry to get custody, she'd find a legal way around it. But her feelings wouldn't allow her to keep Scabior and Abbey apart. Not when she still loved him.

Of course, Hermione would never admit that.

A silence filled the room, to Scabior it was an uncomfortable silence as he struggled to find something else to say. He was once again at a loss for words. He was a snatcher that had once held control over several men, locked up in Azkaban with thousands of criminals and murderers, but he didn't know what to say to a little girl.

Scabior cleared his throat before saying, "I guess, I should let you get back to playing with your dolls."

Just when he was about to get up from his sitting position on the floor, he suddenly felt something light on his lap and tiny arms attempting to wrap around him. Looking down he could see Abbey had wrapped her arms possessively around him and her face was buried in his chest.

"Don't go daddy." Abbey whimpered.

Shock registered all over Scabior's features. For a moment he wasn't quite sure how to respond to Abbey hugging him but then he thought, _She's your daughter. You spent years waiting for this day, show her that. _

Slowly, as if he was being careful not to break her, he wrapped his own arms around Abbey and gave a gently squeeze. "I'm not going anywhere Abbey." He whispered, craning his neck so he could kiss her lightly on top of her head. He kept his head there and closed his eyes. The feeling of a small child, _his_ child, in his arms for the first time was something incredible. Scabior couldn't believe that he helped create something so small, fragile, and beautiful. He was afraid that if he let go of her, she'd be the one leaving him behind. This was what it was like to have a child of your own. This was what happiness felt like.

"Abbey, dinner!" Hermione's voice echoed from the kitchen downstairs.

Opening his eyes, he looked down at Abbey "You heard the boss. Time to fill that belly of yours." He poked her in the stomach which caused her to giggle. Without thinking he stood up from the floor and picked up Abbey as he went. He then walked out of the room with Abbey in his arms and Skip following right on his heel.

* * *

><p>Hermione placed two plates onto the table, she re-heated leftover lasagna. It wasn't anything special, her mind was too muddled in the clouds to really cook something nice tonight. A part of her had been tempted to order a pizza, but the last thing she needed was to hear some arrogant comment from Scabior about it. It didn't matter, Abbey liked lasagna anyways. Scabior wouldn't have to know she just re-heated leftovers.<p>

Wait. Why did she care if Scabior liked what she cooked or not?

Speaking of the snatcher, he was still upstairs with her daughter who must be ready to eat right about now anyway. "Abbey, dinner!" She called up the staircase. Looking back over to the table, she double checked to make sure everything was there. Both her and Abbey's plates were made, napkins were place along with silverware, a glass of strawberry milk for her daughter and some ice tea for herself.

The sound of heavy footsteps coming down the steps forced her to look away from the table to see Scabior skipping the last two steps of the staircase with her daughter who was smiling as he was bouncing her slightly with each step. Hermione took in the sight of them together, and it made a smile form on her own face.

Scabior look at the setting where the strawberry milk was and placed Abbey in the chair, looking at the only other plate on the table and then at Hermione. "I suppose I'll be making my own plate then?" He asked. Not sarcastically, it was a general question. Another surprise to Hermione.

_That was the plan…_

Until she saw the sight of him and their daughter together. If he made Abbey happy, then she couldn't allow herself to be cruel in front of her then. "No, it's your plate."

"Oh?" Scabior's brow raised questioningly, not sure if she take her serious or not. "Don't tell me that you're one of those women who don't eat in fear of gaining weight," his eyes roamed down her body quickly "because I don't really think you have any problems in your appearance sweetheart." He ended with a wink. Thank Merlin that Abbey was too young to comprehend was her father was hinting at. It still didn't help the tiny blush emerging on her own face though.

Hermione looked away from him, "Of course I'm not like that, I already ate earlier." She lied. She was hungry and the plate that she gave to Scabior was supposed to be hers, but some part of her decided against it. The same exact part that made her blush at his flirtatious gesture.

_Get a hold of yourself Hermione!_ She inwardly slapped herself.

Scabior gave her a suspicious glance, but didn't argue with her as he sat down and began to eat the lasagna. "Abbey, if something happens to me after this meal, you tell the Ministry workers when they show that you want a proper investigation on what happened to me." He pointed his fork at her as if he were giving her an important task. Abbey looked like she was going to panic at her father's statement and caught what he was talking about before looking at Hermione with an accusing look "Mommy!"

Scabior started to laugh. And Hermione slapped him on the back of the head.

"He'll be alright, he's just playing a mean joke." She reassured Abbey.

_Tap, tap, tap!_

Turning around, she looked at the window that was over the kitchen sink to see an owl perched outside of it. She glanced at the clock on the wall to see that it was seven o'clock, certainly not a time that owls make a delivery. The owl began to tap on the window again furiously because she hadn't come to the window yet. "Alright, alright." Hermione sighed as she opened the window and grabbed the envelope from it's beak. The owl then took off in a rush before she even had the chance to give it a tip. Ignoring the unusually behavior, she flipped the envelope in her hand to see that it was blank but there was a single piece of parchment inside. Hermione pulled it out and gasped at the two single words written on it.

_Danger. Run._

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**** I'm afraid I have to apologize for yet another late update. Something irritating called life got in the way again. I haven't had time to even think in the last couple of weeks. But I still haven't forgotten nor have I lost inspiration to continue writing! I still need to update Maelstrom. I also am in the process of writing a Scabmione one shot as well as a Dramione one shot. Hopefully I'll have one of those up before Friday. But I can't make any promises. Anyways, did ya'll enjoy the chapter? I'm sorry if you think I went a tad OOC with Scabior. I was trying to picture how he might be if he were to have a daughter you know? But just you wait to see the next two chapters. Things are going to start moving! I'm already working on chapter five. I think it's going to be pretty good. I'm sure ya'll will like it. I hope so.  
><strong>

**I look forward to reading some reviews from ya'll. They always help me and I very much enjoy reading them! **

**Have a wonderful day! :) **_  
><em>


	6. Chapter 5

Hermione stared the note wide eyed.

_Danger. Run._

There was no signature, it was just ink written on a small piece of parchment. Who was it from? Was it a threat? A warning? A practical joke?

For years she had never felt this kind of fear, that she could possibly be in danger again. That _Abbey _could be in danger.

Hermione's hand began to shake slightly as she was holding onto the parchment, not really knowing what to do. She didn't recognize the handwriting. But maybe if she whipped up a few potions, she could figure out the identity.

"You alright?" A rough voice asked.

She looked up from the paper and met the eyes of Scabior who had just finished his plate and was looking at her…worryingly?

Hermione looked to see that Abbey was still eating and was too lost in eating her food than listen to her parents conversation. The one habit the little girl picked up from her Uncle Ron. She resisted the strong urge to roll her eyes.

Crumbling up the piece of parchment and sticking it into her pocket she cleared her throat. "I'm fine, it was a note from my boss."

Scabior stared at her for a moment but then sighed as he stood up and placed his finished dish in the sink, where Hermione was standing at. His chest brushed against her shoulder lightly and she could feel his hot breath by her ear as he leaned forward. Hermione's heart fluttered as she remembered his closeness. The image of their naked bodies moving together before flashed in her mind before it disappeared quickly. A deep blush formed on her face as she thought about that memory and she heard Scabior chuckle lowly as he seemed to have noticed.

She half expected him to make a move, say something flirtatious to her like he always did. But instead, his hand trailed over her hip softly as he stepped away from her and walked back over to Abbey, giving her a small playful rub on top of her head.

"Where are you going daddy?" Abbey looked up at him, swallowing a mouthful of food.

"I got to take a shower, unless you don't mind me being all filthy?" He questioned.

"Yuck. No. Go get clean daddy." Abbey commanded and went back to her food.

"Yes ma'am." Scabior saluted and walked out of the kitchen.

Hermione sighed at the scene that played out before her. She didn't know whether to be happy or sad. She was glad that Abbey and Scabior were already kicking off their father-daughter relationship to a good start, but what if Abbey becomes to attached and he leaves? No matter how many times he says he's not, a part of her will always be doubtful.

When she noticed that her daughter finally finished eating her meal as well and drained the glass of milk, Hermione walked over and grabbed them before returning them back to the sink. She would wash the dishes later, maybe after she put something in her stomach. Like a good, fat piece of strawberry short cake. Yes, that sounded like a good idea.

"Alright, bed time for you little miss." Hermione smiled as she turned back to her daughter, who was climbing out of her chair already.

"But mom, can't I watch some tv?" Abbey whined.

"No, no. You need to get into the habit of going to bed at eight if you're going to be starting school in a couple of weeks."

"I don't want to go to school. I like being home and at Ms. Cindy's."

"Well, big girls go to school, and you're a big girl now." Hermione said sternly, leaving no room for any argument for Abbey. "Speaking of which," she added as she picked up her daughter, "My gosh, you're becoming so big I can hardly pick you up anymore. It's like you're getting to be Skip's size." She playfully joked, she could pick up Abbey with some ease still. But she knew her days were limited to how much she can pick up her growing child.

After, she took Abbey to her room and closed the door, to allow her daughter to change into her pajamas, she walked to her own room across the hall to change.

As Hermione undressed herself, she plucked the crumbled up parchment from her pants and looked at it again. Should she really be worried? Maybe this was someone's idea of a sick joke. Who would want to harm her or Abbey? Ever since Voldemort was defeated, anyone that would want to harm her was either dead or locked up.

_Danger. Run._

It couldn't be a threat if this mysterious person was telling her to run. It was a warning. A bad feeling was forming in the pit of her stomach, but what could she do? She couldn't go to Auror's and ask them to watch her house based on what a note said. Harry and Ron probably wouldn't hesitate to do so, but she couldn't ask them too. They had their own lives to worry about than hers.

Besides, Hermione knew how to use her wand. She had magical enforcements around her house. She had Skip. No one would be able to cause any kind of harm here.

With that, she placed the wrinkled piece of parchment into a random drawer and stripped off the rest of her clothes. Dressing herself in a silk nightgown that reached to her mid-thighs.

It wasn't the most appropriate thing to wear now that Scabior was living here, but she didn't have the time to go out shopping for a new wardrobe just because of him. She was so used to just living with her daughter that Hermione never worried about her appearances, and she never had any interests in dating while she was raising her daughter. Besides, it wasn't like she wasn't showing anything he hadn't seen before.

A tiny tint of pink rose on her cheeks.

Well, it wasn't like _he_ was going to be seeing too much of what was underneath her garment again anyways.

Looking in the body length mirror she had in her room, she inspected herself. She still looked pretty good for twenty three year old who gave birth at an early age. It was a good thing she still ate healthy, mostly because she wanted to set an example for Abbey. She then looked at her hair, it wasn't as frizzy and unruly as it had been when she was in school. It was still thick and had it's curls, but it looked appropriate for her. Still, she liked to keep it out of the way, especially when she was sleeping; so she grabbed a small band from the dresser and tied her hair back into a pony-tail.

Sighing, she looked at her reflection once more and walked out of her room to tuck Abbey in - only to bump into a damp, hard, body.

And then she heard the low, wolf-like, girl calling, whistle.

"Hello there beautiful." Scabior wiggled his brows down at her as he was inspecting her body.

Hermione blushed and backed up against her door as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Don't get cocky, this is the most you're going to be seeing."

Scabior only grinned as he leaned forward so that his arm was resting over her head on the door while he looked down at her. "I think you want me to see more."

"Really? What makes you think that?" Hermione managed to let out, she wasn't going to let him know that she was already beginning to feel urges just by looking at his…very well masculine bare upper body, only wearing his plaid pants without the belt, which made them hang slightly, showing the upper part of his pelvis.

_Oh merlin. _She resisted the urge to bite her lower lip at his body. How she was beginning to remember it so.

_Stop it! You're fawning over this man like a horny school girl! _A voice screamed in her head. A voice that was starting to become more like an echo. How long had it been since she had sex? It was most likely when Abbey was being conceived.

Scabior hummed in appreciation as his hand ran down the curve of her body. "You're wearing something so bloody sexy…and I know that you could've put a robe on." He spoke lowly.

Dammit. She could've worn one too. She had a purple one - that Abbey picked out for her - hanging on her bathroom door. Why hadn't she worn it?

"That's alright beautiful," He bent his head down so that his lips brushed the hollow of her ear and whispered "I would've taken it off even if you did come out here wearing one." The way he said it had sent shivers down her body.

Scabior took his arm off of the door that was over her head and began to roam her body eagerly along with his other hand as he kissed his way from her ear, across her jaw line, up and down the side of her neck until his lips made their way slowly up to hers, lightly brushing them together.

_This is wrong. _Her thoughts warned. _I can't give into him like this again…_

But how right it felt to have his body so near hers, with his hands over her and the sweet temptation of a kiss that he was waiting for. Which made her think. He wasn't going to steal a kiss from her…he was waiting for her.

Hermione didn't have the patience to think about the pros and cons of this situation. So she just went pressed her mouth against his and they both released the same low moan. It had been so long since they felt the warmth of the other, so long since they could carry out their needs.

The kiss deepened into something hot and passionate, Scabior practically shoved his tongue into her mouth and began his quest for dominance. His arms snaked themselves around her waist and his hands moved slowly down to her rear, rubbing either side appreciatively. His hands then slipped underneath the hem of her gown and cupped both cheeks and gave them a tight squeeze. Hermione could hear him attempt to suppress a moan as she felt something _very_ hard press up against her stomach.

One of her hands grabbed at his shoulder in an attempt to hold onto something as her other hand moved behind her to find the doorknob so they could continue this somewhere more private.

"Mommy?" A tiny voice called out.

Hermione gasped in surprised and practically shoved a very much surprised Scabior to the side and could see Abbey's head peering out of her door with a curious gaze. "Abbey!" Hermione knew that her face was as red as a tomato. Not only was she doing something she swore she wasn't going to do, but her daughter saw them!

"What are you two doing?" Abbey asked, blinking.

Thank Merlin she wasn't old enough yet to really comprehend what just happened.

Hermione opened her mouth, but Scabior's voice seemed to have replaced hers. "We were going to try and give you a little brother or sister." Hermione's eyes widened at his very humorous voice from behind her. She just knew he had an innocent smile for Abbey, but a very dark smirk on the inside.

Abbey gasped and her face turned into pure joy, "REALLY?" She practically yelled.

Hermione groaned and turned to glare at Scabior, who was looking far too innocent. She turned back around to Abbey "Don't listen to your father, I think he slipped and bumped his head in the shower."

She gestured Abbey back into her room and closed the door behind her, when Abbey's disappointed voice asked "I'm not going to have a little brother or sister?" Hermione sighed. "Not right now you're not." It was the best answer she could come up with.

Really. Making another kid with Scabior the same night he shows himself for the first time in years. Ridiculous.

* * *

><p>Hermione closed the decorated door behind her softly, she had just tucked her daughter in and read her a bedtime story. She looked to see that Scabior was waiting there in the hall, except this time he was fully dressed.<p>

"Where are you going?" Anger and yet disappointment erupted inside of her. He was already leaving?

Scabior smirked, "I'm even surprised that you've warmed up to me so quickly." when he noticed that she was on the brink of exploding he spoke again. "I got an owl from the Ministry, they want me to go grab someone that's rumored to be lurking outside of Tinworth." He pulled the parchment from and inner pocket and showed her the evidence. "I'll be back by morning the latest."

He walked forward and wrapped his arms around her and growled seductively in her ear. "Then we can continue where we left off."

Before Hermione could protest, he pecked her on top of her head and carried himself down the stairs. She didn't bother to move until she heard the front door open and shut behind him.

"Please come back." Hermione whispered as she looked at the empty space in front of her.

* * *

><p>Three dark cloaked figures stepped out from the darkness and onto the street, just out of the street lamp's light. They had just watched the ex-snatcher step out from inside of the house, it was all too tempting to grab him and kill him. But it was too risky as well. In front of so many muggles, even in the middle of the night. Aurors would be here quicker than they could blink. What they had to do must happen inside. So they had just stood there, and watch their old ally apparate from sight.<p>

"We should've just stunned him, I think." A strong, and bold voice spoke.

"No." The werewolf growled. "It'll be too easy to just up and kill him. He needs to suffer." He grinned a yellow, toothly grin and added "And what better way than to crush what he worked so hard to get?"

"Are you sure it's safe though Greyback?" The third man asked, his voice raspy. "I mean, she is Potter's friend."

Fenrir growled and turned around, grabbing the man by the collar and held him up in the air by a foot and half. "Are you doubting me, Ivan?"

Ivan, who was now slightly trembling gave a quick shake of his head. "N-No! I have complete faith in you Greyback!"

"That's what I thought." Fenrir snapped and dropped the man back down onto the ground and looked back at the house. He watched the house for a little bit longer, waiting for the last light that was lit in the house to go out. It didn't hurt for him to be patient, since he had been planning this for a while now, he could wait just a little bit longer.

Finally, after what seemed like a half an hour after the last light went out, he knew that the two occupants in the house were sound asleep.

"Let's go."

Fenrir grinned excitedly and began to walk across the darkened street with the other two men trailing behind him.

They entered the yard and made their way up onto the front porch, unlocking the door and disarming all of the enchantments that were around, and stepped inside.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: There you go! Chapter five! My deepest apologies for the late update again. A lot is going on with me right now. I can't really get into detail with it all but one of them is that I'm trying to find a job. So half of the time that I'm on my laptop I'm filling out job applications. I'm getting my car in a few months and I need a way to be able to pay for the monthly insurance also I have to pay for the tags. A lot is on my mind. But I'm going to try to have chapter six up soon. There are a few other fics I'm working on as well. But like they say, "Patience is a virtue." **

**Have a wonderful day!**


	7. Chapter 6

Abbey sat up in her bed and gazed sleepily around the room. Everything was quiet besides the tiny snores that emitted from her dog, Skip, who was sleeping at the foot of her bed. She knew that she should be asleep, but her bladder wasn't going to let her until something was done about it.

Slipping off the fluffed purple blanket from her tiny body, she slid herself from the bed and her bare feet touched the soft carpeted floor. Just when she thought she was clear to exit her bedroom she heard a soft grunt like noise and turned around to see that the German Shepherd was sitting right up and stared intently at her, watching her every move.

"Shhh. I have to go potty." Abbey whispered. She didn't want him to make any kind of noise and risk waking up her mother. If she were to wake up and see Abbey out of bed, she would be lectured again about taking care of "business" before bedtime. Why didn't her mother realize that if she didn't have to go, she couldn't; if she did, then she _had_ to go. It must've been a grown up thing to not be able to understand the simply things.

Skip began to whine when Abbey opened the door to walk out. "Shh!" She pressed her index finger against her lips and Skip drew his ears back and lowered his head back on to the mattress, moping with one final whine.

Poking her head out into the hallway, she looked left and then right. Everything was clear and her mother's bedroom light was off. Abbey looked to see if maybe her father's light was still on but it too was off. Maybe they were sharing the same room tonight?

With as much stealth as a five year old could achieve, she walked to the bathroom.

A few minutes later the sound of a toilet flushing was heard and Abbey stood up on her purple "step-up" so that she was able to stand over the sink and wash her hands. Something in the corner of her eye caught her attention and looked over to see a pink scarf hanging from the towel rack. So like any normal five year old would do, she grabbed it and examined it.

Taking it to her nose, she inhaled many different scents through her nostrils. Only two stuck out to her. Abbey pulled it away and looked down at the pink scarf with a questioning look. This was her father's scarf, she had seen him wearing it. Why did it have the smell of her mother's favorite vanilla scented perfume on it? Abbey could clearly smell her father on it still. He smelled something close to something musky, but it was rather pleasant to her. Not like the stuff her Uncle Ron would wear.

Abbey made a face just at the thought of the overly strong cologne her uncle would wear on special occasions.

Stepping back up onto the "step-up", she wrapped the scarf around her own neck and did a few poses that she had seen pretty women on magazines before, and giggled. Maybe her father will let her have it. The scarf did look nice on her and plus it was pink, and her father didn't seem like the type of man to wear girly things. Maybe it was a present for her that he planned on surprising her with and accidentally left it in the bathroom?

_I should put it back! _Her thoughts panicked. She didn't want her father to be disappointed that he couldn't surprise her.

Just as she was about to unwrap the scarf though, she heard the faintest creaking sound from outside of the bathroom. Abbey stepped down from the "step-up" and turned off the bathroom light before opening up the door, sure that she was caught by her mother that she was still up and out of bed.

Not wanting to meet her mother's eyes, she just gazed down at the floor as she stepped out of the bathroom. "Mo-" Abbey began but stopped herself as she took in notice the pair of feet in her line of vision. They weren't her mother's. Her mother wouldn't be wearing huge black boots like these, and they seemed a bit bigger than her father's boots and in a different style as well.

Abbey swallowed and slowly trailed her eyes up the body. Dark black pants and a matching overcoat she noticed. This person was huge, like a mountain or a building. Her head was basically craned all the way back as she finally took in the person's face. It was a man. He was very hairy and his eyes were a scary piercing blue, and they didn't look like a normal person's eyes - it was like an animals.

The man's once blank face slowly twisted in a malicious grin, revealing two sickly yellow colored rows of teeth.

"Hello little girl." His voice spoke, but the very sound of it sent ripples of fear through her body. This was the kind of man that her mother always warned her to stay far away from.

Doing the one thing her mother had taught her over and over again to do in this situation; she screamed.

* * *

><p>"MOMMY!"<p>

A mere split second went by and Hermione was already out of her bed, wielding a wand. It didn't matter if she had been in a deep sleep, the sound of her daughter's scream would be enough to wake her from a coma.

Hermione hadn't even made it to her door yet when she heard the fierce growling and barking.

"Get the fucking mutt off me!" An angry voice painfully shouted. "The mutt won't let my arm go, kill the fucking thing!"

Hermione swung her door open with a bang and pointed her wand at the first body mass she spotted, "Impedimenta!" She shouted and with a painful grunt, the man went flying back down the staircase that was behind him.

A familiar green curse flew at her but she twisted to the side just in time for it to zoom past here.

"Don't kill her! She needs to stay alive!" A deep voice snapped. A very familiar voice.

Hermione's eyes narrowed as they finally adjusted to the darkness, she could see one man who she didn't recognize at all point his wand at her, waiting for an order. The other man had both of his arms preoccupied. In one arm, Skip was latched onto and was trying to tear it off which kept causing the man to growl in pain. Hermione immediately knew who the man was, only he wasn't a man, he was a werewolf. In his other arm he held the unconscious body of her daughter.

"Put my daughter down Greyback!" She fired off another curse but the unknown man blocked it and it rebounded into the wall besides Greyback, just missing his head by inches. Hermione continued to fire off more rounds but kept getting the same results.

"Forget her for a damn moment and get the fucking mutt off me!" Greyback hissed as he kept trying to shake the German Shepherd from him, blood was splattering everywhere from the wound that was being shredded wider and wider by the second.

Without warning Hermione was blasted back by a powerful wind and flew all the way at the end of the hallway and was rammed hard into the wall before falling down onto the floor. A sharp pain ruptured in her back as she tried to get up, it was so painful that every cell in her brain was telling her to just lay there; she couldn't. Not when her daughter was in the arms of a sadistic werewolf.

Hermione whipped her head up as she was yet again attempting to rise when she saw the flash of green with a high, yet short, whine just before. A soft thud followed and Skip laid at Greyback's feet, never to be able to get up again. Abbey's guardian was gone.

A feeling of coldness ripped through her, but Hermione pushed it aside. This wasn't the time to grieve for her dog. Not when she needed to finish what he couldn't.

Biting down on her tongue, she forced herself up and didn't allow herself to give until she was on her two feet again. She could feel a small trickle of blood travel down the side of her head, but she paid no attention as she glared back at Greyback and his friend who were both grinning madly. When Hermione made to point her wand at the two of them, she gasped when she noticed she was only pointing her mere fist at them.

_Where's my wand? _

Panic flooded through when she saw the unknown man beside the werewolf was holding _her_ wand in his no-longer free hand. The unknown man snickered and pointed her own wand at her. "Petrificus Totalus." It wasn't even a second and Hermione stood straight and still as a board before falling backwards on the floor. She couldn't move, couldn't speak, and couldn't even so much as blink as she hear a single pair of footsteps walk up beside her; her eyes took in notice that was standing over her with a cruel smile playing on his lips as he held Abbey in his left arm as if she were a rag doll.

_Let my little girl go. _Her eyes glared daggers up at him, which only caused him to bark in laughter.

Then right in front her of, he practically shoved her little girl into the arms of the man who had custody of her wand.

Greyback pulled up on his pants before crouching down so that his head hovered over hers, his breath was so foul that if she weren't petrified, she would be gagging horribly.

"I'm letting you live only because I want you to deliver my old friend Scabior a message for me." He sneered. "He should've kept his mouth shut. If he had then your daughter's life wouldn't be hanging by a thread that _I _can decide what to do with now." The werewolf grabbed Hermione by the throat and yanked her frozen body up so that their faces were only inches apart. "If you ask help from the Ministry, Potter, or anyone - because believe me when I say that I will know; I will sink my teeth into your little girls neck before you can say, "Ouch."

His eyes trailed down her body quickly before snapping back up to meet her gaze with a lustful look in his gaze. "If you weren't Scabior's leftovers then I wouldn't mind taking more than a bite out of you." With that, he simply dropped her and stood back up, snatching Abbey from the other man's hand before walking down the hallway and away from Hermione.

_Come back here…._ Her voice called out soundlessly. _Come back here with my daughter! _

But they were gone. Hermione could no longer here the presence of her daughter or the intruders in her home.

Abbey was gone.

* * *

><p>Scabior swirled into existence and stood before the home that was occupied with both his daughter and the woman he had come to love a long time ago. The sun was just barely rising over the horizon as the sky was still a pinkish color from the disappearing night sky. He knew that Abbey was still asleep, and he was definitely hoping that Hermione was still asleep.<p>

A smirk formed on his lips as he remembered the events from hours before and was hoping that she would allow him to continue where he left off.

Checking to make sure that no one saw his apparation, he made his way up into the house.

When Scabior closed the door behind him, he instantly notice that something was not right as he took in the splatter of blood that was evident on the staircase in front of him.

He didn't care that his boots were dirty from walking through the dew covered grass and dirt in the front lawn, he climbed the stairs, taking two at a time until he was facing the narrow hallway before him horrified. There were scorch marks covering on each side of the once beautiful walls, chunks of wood was missing, and blood was scattered over an area of the floor that was near a chunk of fur.

Scabior's attention looked at the chunk and noticed that it was his daughter's dog. The German Sheperd that didn't take to kindly to him was laying lifeless on the floor. There was no point in checking for vital signs, he knew the dog was gone or else it would've been growling at him this very second. He inclined his head and noticed that his muzzle was drenched in blood and he couldn't help but form a tiny smile. At least the dog didn't go down without a fight.

Then he also noticed that Hermione's wand was laying there beside his body. Scabior stared at it strangely and picked it up, pocketing it into his jacket.

His head snapped back forward as he saw the tiny movement at the end of the slightly dimmed hallway that was lit from the window from the back wall of the hall. A foot or two on the ground below it was a body that was just laying there and it only took a few seconds for him to register that it was Hermione.

Scabior ran to her and bent down to see that she was breathing and she was awake…just staring up at the ceiling as if she were in her own little world. "Hermione?" He placed a hand on her shoulder and shook her a little. "Hermione what happened?" He knew that he was speaking clearly, but she seemed as if she couldn't hear him, that she didn't even notice his presence.

"Hermione, where's Abbey? Is she alright?" Scabior asked.

Hearing her daughter's name being called seemed to have woken Hermione from her stupor as her eyes snapped to his face, and her face that was once blank twisted into a mask of pure anger. Scabior wasn't a fool, he already knew it was coming from experience with her, and backed up a couple feet back just as she had sat right up and swung the wooden leg of the small table that laid beside her in pieces at him.

"Woman, have you lost you fucking mind!" Scabior shouted and ducked out of the way as she swung at him again.

"It's all of your fault!" Hermione screamed. "It's all of your damn fault that this happened!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" He asked, keeping his eyes on the wooden table leg that was clutched tightly in her right hand.

"Greyback took her!" She screeched. "He took her because of you! Because you sold out him and the rest of the people that you used to be around!"

Scabior stilled. He was no fool. He knew what she was talking about. Greyback had came here and attacked Hermione, and kidnapped their daughter all because he ratted the ex-Death Eaters and snatchers to the Ministry. Somehow, Greyback must've found out who had been responsible for giving away all of their hideaways and he wanted revenge.

Anger boiled in him knowing that _his_ little girl was in the clutches of that sick and evil werewolf. But he knew that he couldn't let his anger get the best of him now. His focus was to try and calm down the woman who was known to have a short fuse and was also holding a weapon.

Realizing that she was swinging at him again, he didn't try to dodge it but caught the wood dead in his hand and stopped her assault as he stared into her face. "Let go of it!" Hermione snarled as she tried to yank it from his grasp but it wouldn't budge.

"Hermione-"

"No! I said let go!" She cut him off with another snarl.

"Calm yourself down woman!" Scabior finally shouted back at her.

"No, I will not calm down!" She gave up and released the wood from her grasp and stepped away from him. "How can I calm down? When my little girl is in the hands of that werewolf?" Scabior could see the tears threatening to break loose. "_My _baby girl is gone Scabior." Her voice strained. "I let him take her from me, I couldn't stop him, I didn't try hard enough."

"I didn't fight hard enough, and because of that she is gone and I don't know what he's going to do to her." The tears began to fall then and her face twisted into pain. When Scabior took a step towards her, she only shook her head as the tears continued to trail down her face. "No." She sucked in a sharp breath. "Abbey and I were fine before you showed up. We were happy and we didn't need you!" Scabior felt a sharp stab in his chest at her words, and she was twisting the wound around more as she continued on.

"Abbey was going to be starting schooling soon, she was going to be able to learn things, meet other kids, and she was going to be safe! And now she can't. She didn't ask for this! Hermione cried. "We didn't ask for this!"

Scabior inhaled deeply and looked at Hermione. Her face was wet from her tears and was beat red. Not once had she had ever seen her in this kind of pain, he knew that she wasn't even like this when years ago Bellatrix had tortured her for information. His woman was strong. But at this moment, she was brittle and was on the verge of falling to pieces and into complete darkness.

He could feel his own eyes threatening to allow a couple of tears fall, but he couldn't do it. He couldn't let her see that he was vulnerable too right now. One of them had to be the rock right now or else they would both fall, and neither could risk it when their daughter was still out there, alive.

"I'll get her back." Scabior spoke softly, hoping his tone alone could help comfort her.

"I want her back now Scabior." Hermione sniffed and she looked at him with a hard stare. "I want my baby girl back right now, right this second!"

"I can't." He breathed.

"Yes you can. You could find me at any given time you wanted before, you can bring her back right now!"

"You know it's not that simple…" Scabior's own voice began to crack. She had no idea how badly he wished himself that he could just saw a simple spell and their daughter would be right there with them again, that she would be safe and forever out of the clutches of a werewolf. "I will get her back."

"No Scabior, now. Not in an hour, not tomorrow, not next week. I want her here with me!" Hermione's voice rose an octave at this. Scabior knew her logical self was pushed somewhere inside of her, the old her would've been trying to calm him down as she formed a plan. But things had changed over the last five years. She grew from a young woman and into a mother. There was no time for logic right now for her, only desperation.

"Why are you still standing here?" She questioned.

"Hermio-"

"BRING MY BABY BACK!" Her scream echoed throughout the house.

All of the anger in her face was no more, only anguish covered her features as she just stared at him and choked on another sob. "Please…"

Hermione slowly began to sink towards the floor but Scabior was there in a second and was holding her tightly in his arms. One hand rubbed her back in circles while the other rested on the back of her head; he pressed his lips against the top of her head and kept his eyes closed.

Didn't she realize that this was hard for him as well? He may have only known his daughter for just a short period of time, but he had loved her from the very moment he had looked at the picture in the Dailey Prophet when he was sitting in his cell in Azkaban all of those years ago. His own heart was slowly beginning to crumble.

"Please….please…" Hermione kept repeating herself into his chest. Scabior squeezed her tighter and whispered. "I'm so sorry Hermione..." Because he knew that this was indeed all of his fault. He traded in secrets of dark wizards for his freedom and he was a fool to believe that there would be no consequences from his old "comrades". And now his little girl was gone, she was probably scared, wondering where her mother and father were, and why weren't they coming to get it at this very moment.

No matter what it took. He was going to bring Abbey home and back into the protective arms of her parents.

He couldn't stop himself from picturing his daughter sitting in darkness, scared and alone. The very image had finally broken him as a tear escaped him for the very first time.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: OHMYGOODNESS. I actually updated within a month! Haha. I'm sorry that the last couple of chapters took a while for an update. I'm trying to work on that. Was this chapter okay? I'm not a mother so I could only try and picture how Hermione was feeling. I have a few friends that are mothers themselves, but I can't ask them how they would feel and have them even picture it. So I tried my best. A couple of more Scabmione fics are on the way! I hope you enjoyed reading this update.**

**Have a wonderful day!  
><strong>


	8. Chapter 7

Scabior let out a heavy sigh as he waved his want horizontally, moving a mound of dirt over a magically dug hole with a shapely figure that was wrapped up inside of a sheet. It was Abbey's dog, Skip.

Earlier after Hermione had managed to calm herself down and lock herself in their daughter's bedroom, he wiped any signs away that their had been any kind of fight in the upstairs hallway, as well as erasing the droplets of blood that were all over the staircase. Then that had only left the canine who laid lifeless in the hall.

As much as Scabior and the dog didn't really get along during ever since he showed up, he knew he couldn't just let the German Shepherd there for Hermione to clean up. The woman was already going through enough without having to also take care of her dead dog. Burying him was the least that Scabior do, especially since he had given his life to try and protect Abbey.

A mental image of his daughter flashed in his mind and it made him squeeze his eyes tight as guilt took over him.

_Yes. It was_ his fault that she was kidnapped by his former immoral partner, Fenrir Greyback. If he hadn't said anything in return for his release from Azkaban, his daughter and Hermione would both probably still be sleeping peacefully right now. Greyback would never have any intention of going near either of them if it weren't for him.

_You only did it to see them. Anyone in your position would've done the same._ A miniscule voice whispered into his thoughts.

It didn't matter what the reason was. He should've known that all of his former comrades would demand to want to know who it was who ratted them out; knowing that they would take revenge. Scabior was a fool to not think of the consequences. He had been too deep in excitement of seeing his woman again, and meeting his own offspring for the first time.

If he thought that he didn't deserve either of them before, he most certainly didn't now. But it was his duty to get his little girl back. He would rather take the cruciatus curse a thousand times over than even think of abandoning his daughter.

_Like you abandoned Hermione all those years ago._

Scabior shook his head from the memories and squinted his eyes from the sun that was beginning to rise from out of the fading nights sky.

It was time that he finally went to check on Hermione. They both needed to go to the Ministry soon.

* * *

><p>The room had a purplish glow to it as bright sunbeams tried to seep their way through the purple curtains of Abbey's room. Despite with how bright and colorful the room was, the atmosphere was anything but.<p>

Hermione sat on her daughters bed; just sitting there and staring into some far off space while holding onto a small brown teddy bear that Abbey slept with every night. It was Abbey's favorite.

_-Flashback-_

_A tiny one year old little girl with an already thick head of dark brown hair was giggling and laughing as Hermione danced a darkly colored teddy bear - that Neville had given Hermione at her baby-shower over a year ago - in front of her as they both sat in a rocking chair. Hermione had her daughter's back leaning against her stomach while her arm wrapped itself securely around the infants. _

_Abbey was giggling and smiling a toothy smile along with her mother while clapping her tiny hands against each other as the bear was singing and dancing to her. Hermione had casted a spell that Mrs. Weasley had taught her to do a simple dance. Although, it was really Hermione singing: _

_The bear went over the mountain,_

_The bear went over the mountain,_

_The bear went over the mountain,_

_To see what he could see._

_To see what he could see,_

_To see what he could see._

_The other side of the mountain, _

_The other side of the mountain,_

_The other side of the mountain,_

_Was all that he could see._

_Was all that he could see,_

_Was all that he could see,_

_The other side of the mountain,_

_Was all that he could see! _

_The tiny girl gave a shrill of excitement when the teddy bear pressed its nose lightly against her nose and hugged her. _

_-End of Flashback- _

She gave the bear a squeeze as the memory seem to have made a painful tug at her chest and let out a shaky breath. No tears were trailing down her face because she had none left, she had cried out everything she had into Scabior's shoulder earlier.

As she was still silently reminiscing about Abbey, it wasn't until she felt a warm hand rest on her upper back to realize that Scabior had entered the room.

"I think it's time we go." His voice hesitantly directed.

Hermione looked up at him with red-rimmed eyes, "Go where?" she questioned.

"To the Ministry." Scabior answered as he pulled the stuffed bear from her arms and gestured for her to stand up. "We both need to be there to tell the Aurors what happened here."

"No!" Hermione shouted and shot right out of her place on the bed and grabbed onto Scabior's leather jacket roughly. "No one can know about this Scabior. Not my friends, not anyone at the Ministry, _no one._"

"Are you mad?" He glared down at her. "Our daughter was taken by a sadistic werewolf and you don't want the Ministry's help? Not even Potter's? Did they hit you in the head with a bloody curse!"

"He said he'll kill Abbey if we tell anyone!" She exclaimed with a panicked voice. When Scabior's eyes widened she continued. "Someone at the Ministry gave up your name to Greyback…someone told him about us and all it takes is the wrong person to catch wind of us looking for help and he'll kill her. You know he will."

Scabior didn't respond to her. Instead, he moved away from her and paced around the bedroom for a few minutes in deep thought and Hermione didn't bother to try to talk to him. She knew that he would tell her when he was finished and came up with a solution.

And so he did.

After a few more minutes of his pondering, he stopped his pacing and turned to look at her with an expression she didn't recognize. "We're going to the Ministry."

"But-" She began but Scabior quickly interrupted her.

"We're going to work, since it wouldn't do us any good to take a sick day and just sit around here and do nothing. At least there we can at least try to find any leads without rousing suspicion."

Hermione blinked and just stared at him. "That's actually not a bad idea."

"You would've thought of it first if you weren't being this way." Scabior snapped. "If you weren't acting like a bloody fucking zombie we'd be getting somewhere."

Hermione's eyes widened with shock and fury. "I'm sorry I'm not acting how you want me to be Scabior, but after what just happened you can't blame me for not being quick witted at the moment!"

"I can!" Scabior shouted back, getting right in her face. "What happened to the woman back in the war? That could withstand anything that came at her or taken from her, and still be the bright determined witch? That was tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange, brushed it off and continued to all of the thinking for the 'Golden Trio'? I know our daughter has been taken, but you're not helping her any but just sitting on the bed and thinking about things that won't help her. Now get your ass up and be the woman and mother Abbey and I know!"

There was a tense atmosphere in the silent room for a few moments while the two of them stared each other down, daring the other to speak. Finally, Hermione placed the stuffed teddy bear onto the bed and stood up.

"Alright. Let's go."

* * *

><p>There were stacks of paperwork on Hermione's desk, but she just couldn't will herself to look them over and fill out the necessary areas. Her face was too busy being buried in her palms as her elbows rested on the edge of the desk.<p>

Her and Scabior had arrived at the Ministry a few hours ago using the Floo Network, but arriving at separate times of course. Hermione still wasn't ready to let out to the public that the former snatcher was living with her, much less that they shared a daughter together. She wanted to tell her friends everything first before she allowed for it all to go public. If Hermione knew Rita Skeeter and the rest of the reporters of the Dailey Prophet, it would all be front page news.

Scabior told her before she flooed to the Ministry that she needed to concentrate and put her mind to work if they were going to get to the bottom of whoever ratted him out. But how could she do that? She couldn't focus on anything.

For the last hour or so her face has been buried away in her hands so that she didn't have to see the two moving photos that rested on her desk. A picture of Hermione holding Abbey after she was born, and a picture of Teddy Lupin, Victoire Weasley, and Abbey opening Christmas presents together. She couldn't make herself remove or lay the frames on the desk and away from her site either.

_Oh Abbey…_

Hermione threw herself back into her chair so hard that she had almost tipped herself backwards. She needed to stop with moping over the loss of her daughter. That's what a mother would do if their child was dead. Abbey was missing, not dead. Hermione needed to keep her head clear if she was going to find her daughter.

The only problem was that she didn't have a clue on where to start. There were only a handful of people that she knew who worked as the Wizengamot. She didn't have a clue who the rest were and it would be too suspicious of her to suddenly get herself acquainted with the rest of the members.

Hermione chewed her bottom lip as she began to think.

This person had to be someone who would've easily be picked off for being labeled as weak, both physically and mentally. Someone who also had something to lose because if she knew that they needed to be blackmailed to "encourage" them.

But who?

She ran her fingers through her hair as she glanced briefly at the two pictures on her desk.

Just as she was about to sink back into her hands to block out her thoughts, there was a knock on the door. "Come in." Hermione said loud enough for the person on the other side of the door to hear.

When the door was opening rather sluggishly, she looked up curiously only to see that it was Lenard Duvall. She faked a friendly smile as he closed the door behind him and walked across the room to place a few more files onto her already crowded desk. Hermione knew him quite well over the past few years of her working at the Ministry. He worked with the Wizengamot but was also one of the few people from the jury that went around the Ministry to deliver important paperwork that couldn't be trusted by being delivered magically. Duvall was wearing his usual dark robes that he was required to wear as a jury member.

He was slightly shaking as he did so, but that was normal for him. He had always been a sketchy fellow that would jump at the smallest noise. It was funny how much he reminded Hermione of Professor Quirrell, her Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher from her first year at Hogwarts. Good news was that Duvall didn't wear a turban. He didn't bother to cover up his head that was slowly thinning to baldness.

"These are t-the files that you requested from the Centaur Liaison Office that you wanted." He stuttered, not meeting her eyes as he continued to stare down at the manila folder that rested on top of others. "You'll see some of my notes already added to help make things a little easier."

"Thank you Lenard." Hermione continued with her fake smile with a small nod; ignoring his odd behavior.

Hermione thought that he was going to leave now, since he didn't usually stay to chat most of the time until she heard him suck in a deep breath and asked, "How are things?"

She stared at him for a second as she tried to analyze a question that was something she wasn't up to answering. Actually, she wasn't up for conversation at all. "I'm alright Lenard, thank you for asking."

Hermione looked over her nervous features and noticed a fading bruise on his jaw. "Did something happen to you?" She asked, honestly worried and curious as she pointed her finger to an area on her jaw to show him what she was talking about.

"Oh, this?" Something flashed in his eyes for a moment but Hermione dismissed it as a smile caressed his features. "I was just playing a bit of Q-Quidditch the other day with my boys and it got a little r-rough." He chuckled what seemed half hearted.

"Mm." Hermione nodded. "Well then, if you don't mind I need to start getting started on all of this rubbish before I get too far behind." She motioned her desk that was overflowed with parchments and folders with the hint that it was time for him to take his leave.

"I-Indeed." Duvall nodded hesitantly and turned to exit the room.

Just as he had turned away, Hermione already had the folder that he had delivered to her open and looked at his handwritten notes that was on the very top of the neatly stacked parchments. Something about the handwriting seemed very familiar to her.

As if something possessed her to do it, she looked up just in time to see Duvall turning his body slightly to open the door when she caught sight of the pendant that he had always worn since his wife had bought it for him a couple Christmas's ago. It was a green dragonfly with lightly shaded yellow wings.

All of the sudden she could hear Abbey's voice whisper in the back of her thoughts.

_Look at the dragonfly mommy! _

Something clicked inside of Hermione right then.

The familiar handwriting. The warning note. The way he wouldn't meet her gaze.

Someone from the Wizengamot that was trusted with top secret information who would be easy to crack if put under enough pressure and torture.

Hermione jolted up from her chair so fast that it fell backwards with a loud bang onto the floor that caused Duvall to stop from walking out of the door and look back at her quizzically. But before he could say or do anything she already had her wand out and slammed the door, magically locking it as well as disarmed him of his own wand.

"I believe we have something that we need to discuss, _Lenard._"

The fear stricken face that Duvall made was more than a confession to Hermione.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hello, hello. I apologize for another late update and I also apologize for it being short. I didn't really know what much to do with this chapter because what I'm writing in Chapter 8, I didn't think it should've gone with this chapter. I can't tell you when it'll be up, I've been very busy with a lot of things going on for me outside of my laptop. Also, I've been having problems with my Scabmione muse. It's hard to keep it flowing when other authors here on FF . net are being slow to update as well, and reading Scabmione helps my muse kick it in gear. It's on tumblr has well, the tracked tags aren't being updated to often. But my tumblr wifey is mailing me Scabior and Scabmione posters from the films, so maybe having them on my wall will help.**

**By the way, have any of ya'll head of fictionpress? I'm writing a pirate fic right now and I'll start publishing it next week most likely. I love pirates. Yet another obsession of mine that's been around for many years. Keep an eye on my profile, I'll put the link on their as soon as I start to publish it on fictionpress.**

**Be sure to thank sweettt here on fanfiction! She's the one who's been pushing me and hasseling me to update xD She's like one of the coach's that never give up on the "slow" football player or something like that. Ya'll catch my drift. **

**Anywho, sorry that this chapter wasn't my best. The next one will be much better! Have patience with me please :) **

**Have a wonderful day! **


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